Inner Beast
by The Fifth Rider of Armageddon
Summary: Naruto is kidnapped by Orochimaru at the age of six. He shows up three years later on the shores of Sea Country. watch Naruto grow up as part human, part demon, and part beast. I've taken over for Tsunami227
1. The Beginning

I don't own Naruto.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

In the village of Konoha a great celebration was being held. To the children of the village it was known as the sixth anniversary of day that their former leader the Yondaime Hokage defeated Kyuubi the nine tailed fox. The powerful demon would have destroyed all of Konoha if not for the quick actions of the former fire shadow. The adults on the other hand knew this as the day that the Yodaime sealed the Kyuubi away inside of a little boy. This little boy was an orphan named Naruto Uzumaki.

At the orphanage that Naruto lived at one of the caretakers walked down the hall checking on all of the children. After giving a small curse towards the sleeping demon brat she went on with her rounds until she felt the cold touch of steel against her throat.

"Hello miss, would you be kind enough to tell me which room belongs to Naruto Uzumaki?" the figure asked in a chilling voice.

"B-back down t-t-the hallway. The door on the l-left." the poor woman squeaked out.

"Thank you." the figure said with a grin before sliding the kunai against the woman's throat and leaving her body in the hallway.

Following the woman's directions the man made his way into the room of the six year old blond-haired child. As he approached the bed the fox holder's bed the boy began to wake from his quiet slumber.

When Naruto woke up he saw a man with pale skin and purple makeup under his eyes. His eyes were golden and the pupils were slits like that of a snake and he had black hair.

"Who are you." the boy asked sleepily.

"I'm a friend Naruto-kun. My name is Orochimaru. Lord Hokage asked me to take you to a special place where you never have to worry about those horrid people in Konoha anymore." the Snake Sannin said causing the boy to well up with excitement.

"Do you mean it?" Naruto asked his bright blue eyes overflowing with happiness.

"Of course Naruto-kun. Now come with me."

On a hill out side of Konoha two people were waiting for Orochimaru and Naruto. The first was a creepy looking man in a white lab coat. He had black eyes and silver hair that he wore in a ponytail. The other figure on the hill was a woman with red hair and cold viloet eyes wearing a long lab coat just like the first.

Shortly after midnight Orochimaru and Naruto made their way to the hill.

"Welcome back Lord Orochimaru, is that the boy?" the man asked.

"Yes now let's leave. We have much to do." Orochimaru replied before they disappeared into the night.

* * *

Konoha Three Years Later

The Sandaime Hokage stared wearily at the small journal that lay on his desk. It had been three years. Three long years that he had searched for the young Jinchuuriki. He had to fight the council to have them send out a search party in the first place. The only reason he was able to get them to approve the search at all was the threat that one of their enemies could use Naruto's power against Konoha.

After three years of searching, they finally got a report about a boy with Naruto's description washing up on a beach in Sea Country. He looked perfectly fine at first glance and the only thing that was found with him was a small black journal in a plastic bag to protect it. Because Naruto was not the first member of Konoha to be found on the shores of Sea Country so Sarutobi already had a good idea who Naruto's kidnapper was. After letting out a heavy sigh the Sandaime opened the journal and began to read.

Journal

December 1, 6 A.K. ( After Kyuubi )

Tomorrow is the beginning of my revenge against the evil, horrific, demonic, abomination that destroyed all I held dear. I know I'll be working for an enemy of Konoha by doing this, but I would sell my soul for a chance to cause this beast even the smallest amount of pain and trust me, there will be much pain involved in what we are about to do. Orochimaru has been working in the field of genetic enhancement. As of late he has been working on adding animal and demon attributes to humans.

His goal, the ultimate body. One that would allow a Jounin level shinobi the power to take on all five Kage's. The man is a dreamer I'll give him that. Even with our work nobody could take that kind of power even with the modifications. Orochimaru has chosen the Kyuubi vessel's body for his next host. He believes that because of the Kyuubi's regenerative capabilities he will adapt much faster allowing him to have it up to its full capability in three years. Because I was one of the top medical ninjas in Konoha and Whirlpool Country. Next to Tsunade-sensei of course, so he gave me the opportunity to work on this project. He gets a powerful new body and I get to torture the monster that stole my husband and my little boy. Along with me and Orochimaru's other medics there is one more person working with us. A Biologist by the name of Amachi.

Our first modification will be to see how the boy will react to the D.N.A. of a fox. Because of the demon inside of him, the process is expected to go rather smoothly. 'Project Beast' as it has been named will begin tomorrow.

December 25, 6 A.K.

The results were amazing! None of us expected such a reaction! The boy's body has the ability to turn completely into a fox. Even more amazing is the fact that we think he'll actually be able to speak to them. In under a month we've recreated the abilities the Inuzuka and Aburame worked for generations to achieve and then some! Outside of his fox form we expect him to have the heightened senses of your average canine.

The process as expected was extremely painful but, thank to the Kyuubi's healing abilities all the expected visual side effects are nonexistent. I know that the boy and the beast are two different people. My dear Minato-kun would never damn a child to that fate. But for a chance to destroy Kyuubi when the snake takes over, a chance to destroy the creature that continues to mock me by changing the boy to have him take on the appearance of my husband...some things must be done for the greater good.

January 19, 6 A.K.

The next phase in his evolution has been completed. The next assignment the Hebi-teme gave us was to build the ability of camouflage into the boy's body. We worked with both the D.N.A. of Chameleons and Octopi to recreate their camouflage abilities. Because the work was mainly done with his skin the process went very quickly. He can change his skin color with variety, efficiency, and speed quicker than any creature in the animal kingdom according to Amachi.

January 27, 7 A.K.

Orochimaru has brought in a Yamanaka who was declared a Missing-nin to help us with his new idea. One problem Orochimaru has been having is conditioning his new bodies. So he has brought in the Yamanaka to put information into the boy's brain. He has been given an extensive understanding of seals, all though the snake was smart enough to have him stay away from anything that's even remotely related to the seal used on Kyuubi. And has a basic understanding of academy level techniques, chakra control, and some of Orochimaru's lesser moves, but these memories have been suppressed and will awaken when Orochimaru uses them.

On an unrelated note I found out about a boy named Juugo. A few years ago he apparently come to us for some cure to stop him from killing people. A bunch of scientists laughed at this and he went into a violent rage, he turned into some horrid monster, and killed fifteen scientists and one test subject. Orochimaru managed to knock the boy out and is now doing something with his blood, and is now trying to create something he calls a Curse Seal.

April 8, 7 A.K.

In our last experiments, Naruto adapted much better to the chameleon D.N.A, which also enhanced his already incredible sight so our next job is to work on those possibilities. Our first work was with lizards. We were able to use the abilities of a Gekko to give him the ability to stick to most surfaces. By working with Iguana D.N.A. the boy now sports an impressive set of claws, which are more like daggers actually.

When using this form his hands grow to be three times their normal size and the horn-like nails on his hands and feet, which become covered in green scales and change in way that you would have never thought they belong to a human encompass the entire tip of his fingers and toes instead of the top like normal people.

He also sports a nice tail that is incredibly flexible and is about two feet long and is expected to grow as he does, thanks to the fox and Octopus D.N.A. Of course Orochimaru wanted us to add in the abilities of a snake. Now Naruto has all of the physical abilities Orochimaru gives himself and a set of piousness fangs that can release several different venom's on his target, all though it depends on what poison he wants to use.

And yesterday I found out about Orochimaru's Curse Seal experiment. He told me that he finally perfected his experiment with Juugo's blood. So far he has given the Curse Seals to one-hundred and fifty people. Unfortunately only six people survived; Kimimaro, Tayuya, Kidomaru, Jiroubou, the conjoined twins Sakon and Ukon. The sixth person was some Leaf girl he gave his prototype seal to a few years ago before I joined him, and abandoned her in Sea Country. Apparently when a person who receives the Curse Seal, has a one in a ten percent chance of surviving the process. Such a horrid fate, but sacrafices are necessary in the process of our research.

November 20, 7 A.K.

Our work with mobility is finally complete. In the last half a year we worked on giving him the ability to reach any terrain, be it air, sea or even underground without the use of ninjutsu. Amachi had shown a great interest in the underwater aspect of this next change, hmm...maybe the sadistic freak likes fish or something.

Surprisingly this is the first time that someone outside of the Kyuubi child has shown the ability to adapt to the changes they have had done to them. A little girl about the boy's age has been adapting almost as well as Naruto to the treatment for reason's we don't yet understand completely, but I believe she might have a bloodline, but I have nothing to prove it.

Naruto and Isarabi have clung to each other and have become very good friends all though they don't have much of a choice in this place. I'm happy for the boy. Perhaps he'll be able to keep his sanity in these last days as long as he's with her. I try to be friendly to him in the time between experiments but, the monster inside of him stops me from getting close.

Outside of me and Isarabi, no one here is very kind to him. To give him the ability of flight we thought it was best to stick with mammal D.N.A. and he can now sprout a pair of bat wings. We made some modifications to his lizard form for our subterrain work.

January 10, 8 A.K.

Ten days ago we received a bunch of new test subjects; they're several members from the Fuuma Clan, a few boys named Zaku, Suigetsu, Takashi, and Dashi, and a girl named Kin. And the most unbelievable thing has happened, Naruto befriended all of them, this has never happened before, at least not in this kind of place.

They are probably the only family they'll ever have, but I'm getting off track today we operated on both Naruto's and Zaku's arms installing tubes into their arms. We've experimented on the Fuuma Clan members by giving one wings, giving one spider powers from Kidomaru, and installed some combat memories into the oldest one for a pincer like weapon. We are in the middle of giving Suigetsu the ability to control water.

For Dachi we're in the middle of very painful process for bone manipulation, and we'll do the same for Naruto once he is done with his operation.

And for Takashi we've found a dead body of a woman in Water Country, but not just any woman she's a Hyouton, a person who has the ability to control ice. Starting tomorrow we'll start experimenting on him to see if we can give him her bloodline ability.

May , 8 A.K. Sarutobi noticed that there were a couple of tear drops on this page

Our work is complete. Our final project was to increase the boy's toughness. We tried several things to achieve this. First we used Insect D.N.A. to almost to multiply the toughness of his skin to ten times what it once was. Using blood samples we got from a Kaguya that Orochimaru manipulated we have been able to increase the density of his bones, but we were unable to copy their ability to take the bones out of their bodies.

Dashi is the only person other than Naruto who has been able to survive this process, and this time I have proof that he had a bloodline limit. The child has the ability to change his bones into steel and we believe he'll have the ability to use Iron Style techniques. The only reason he survived the experiments was the fact that his bloodline was activated when we put the seals on him, many clans from Water Country have been sealing away their blood limits. I believe our seals canceled his.

We've hit a snag with Suigetsu instead of him controlling water, he instead turned into water. Orochimaru was most displeased and put him in a tank at another base.

For Takashi we've successfully transferred the womans D.N.A into him, and now he's able to use Ice Style abilities. Unlike those shinobi in Snow Country who need cold climates for their jutsu's. You see thanks to the Hyouton bloodline they can create ice anywhere weather it be in the forest, mountains, on the sea, even in the desert! However during the operation one of the scientists decided to betray us, he destroyed the woman's body, and blinded the poor boy. But that was a blessing in disguise, even when blinded the boy fought and killed the man and he was high Jounin level ninja. That boy shows real promise as a sensor type shinobi, and I'll ask the Sannin permission to increase this skill further.

For Kin we've decided to let her go. From the beginning I saw no real promise for her, unlike her companion Zaku she didn't even have a remote chance as a subject. Whatever tests we tried on er were immediately rejected by her body. I reported this to Orochimaru, but in an unusual gesture he decided to let her go, when I asked why he only gave me that creepy smile of his and said, "Her usefulness isn't over."

As for the Fuuma members we have been working extensively on their 'leader' Arashi. Orochimaru is turning him into something called a Casualty Puppet, I don't know what it is but something tells me I don't want to find out.

I've been trying to spend more time with Naruto but, he is too scared of me to let me get close. I doubt that he'd ever let anyone in a white jacket near him again. I just want to make his last days peaceful because soon Orochimaru will be ready to take over. I hate doing this to the boy but...I will harden my heart to destroy that monster.

Unknown date The next page was too warped for him to read the date. It took everything he had to make out the wet writing

Oh my God, what have I done? What kind of monster am I? Two weeks ago Orochimaru tried to take over the child's body. We tried to weaken Kyuubi by using some seals but, we seriously underestimated the creature's power. Orochimaru was forced out of the boy's body and was put into a coma by the demon. While Orochimaru was knocked out most of the other medics were working on him. This made them overlook one small thing they had been doing since the beginning of 'Project Beast'.

They forgot to change the blood work. It was such a small change that I would have never noticed if not for this. The no name orphan that son of a bitch told me about...is my son...Naruto Namikaze. I put my own son through that hell! Even if it wasn't my son what I did was beyond wrong! I was so blinded by my hate that I helped that psychotic bastard mutate and kill innocent children! Minato...can you ever forgive me? I know my actions will not allow me to go where you are when I die. No matter what I do this sin will remain with me but, perhaps I can set some things right.

When Orochimaru woke up he said that since the boy would never work for us he's going to kill him, but I plan on being half way to Wind Country by then. I'm going to leave Naruto on the shore of Sea Country. I've already sent a note to Konoha and they should be here tonight. Naruto-kun, Minato-kun I'll be back one day. I'll make up for what I have done to you. I love you Naruto and so does your father. Always remember that.

Journal Ends

Sarutobi just sat there a minute before jumping up and running full speed towards the hospital. When he got there, there was a small group of shinobi and doctors sitting outside of his room.

"Lord Hokage we have a problem!" one of the ninjas screamed out.

As the Sadaime Hokage got closer to the boys room he saw a red glow coming from it. When he was in front of the door he saw red chakra flowing all over the room. Naruto sat on the bed in a fetal position.

"What happened here?" Sarutobi roared.

"We don't know! When the boy woke up he took one look at the doctors and then the chakra barrier appeared and force them out of the room. No one has been able to get in since." one of the shinobi replied.

_'__I doubt that he'd ever let anyone in a white jacket near him again. Damn it!' _Sarutobi thought.

The old Hokage went closer to the door and began to bang his hand on the barrier. "Naruto, can you hear me? It's alright now! You're safe!" he shouted.

Naruto tilted his head up just a bit and looked into the old man's eyes. "Old man Hokage." he whispered as the barrier began to fade away. Immediately the old man rushed into the room buried the boy in a hug. The Naruto did what any child would do when he realized all of his torment was over. He broke down and he cried.

* * *

Armageddon: I've taken over and before I forget the pairings are Naruto, Kin, Isarabi, Tenten, Ino, Anko, Hinata, Female Haku, Tayuya, Sasame, and an Oc. That's what the author wanted in terms of me taking this over.


	2. Adjusting to Society

I don't own Naruto.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

"It's nice to see you Lord Hokage. Hopefully we'll be able to do this again under less serious circumstances."

"Hopefully, but my paperwork usually has me too swamped for this. But, let's get to the point. How bad is it Inochi-san?" Sarutobi asked.

Inochi Yamanaka let out a long sigh. The Hokage had come to him earlier in the day to see the extent of the mental damage done to Naruto who was currently waiting in the other room, "Well to be honest he's actually pretty stable considering what happened to him. Most things were expected. A fear of doctors that will probably develop into a fear of hospitals, he is much more shy and quiet then the little boy who used to run around here, and of course he has a great hate for those involved in the experiment." Inochi quietly responded.

"Shouldn't there be more damage? I mean considering what was done to him."

"That is what I thought too. But, apparently the fact that he had a couple of friends managed to keep him somewhat trusting however, depending on how harsh the villagers are on him we could have a real problem. There's also the emotional damage he'll suffer when he finds out his mother was the one operating on him. The Kyuubi is a whole different problem in its self."

In the next room the nine year old blond boy wearing a orange jumpsuit and wrappings on his hands sat quietly in a chair with heavy thoughts on his mind. He was free but, would things be any better? Would the adults still treat him like they use to? And the thing that worried Naruto the most. Were his friends okay?

Before he could think any more about these things he felt a bit of weight on his head when he looked he saw a blond haired girl with turquoise pupiless eyes staring down at him, "Hi, I'm Ino Yamanaka. What's your name?" the girl asked him.

Naruto's first reaction was to tense up with someone this close to him but, after he realized that she wasn't trying to hurt him he decided to answer, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki." he quietly answered her question.

"Naruto Uzumaki, where have I heard that name before? Hmm...oh wait now I remember! You used to go to the academy right? You were that really funny kid that would always prank the teachers." Ino said with a smile causing Naruto to grow a small grin, "But, then you left the academy after a couple of months. Why did you do that? Your grades were bad but, not bad enough to flunk out." Ino asked with a curious look.

"I don't want to talk about it." Naruto simply said.

Ino immediately noticed the sad look on his face and decided to drop it. One thing she learned was that people who came to there flower shop not looking for flowers were usually here for her father's mind walking abilities. Most of these people were unstable her father told her and she should be careful. But, with him she didn't see anything dangerous about him, just a lonely boy sitting by himself looking troubled.

"Hey Naruto, Do you wanna go play outside?" the blond girl asked him.

"Huh?"

"Come on, let's go." she said before grabbing him by the arm.

"Inochi, I know you probably already know this but, I haven't told the council or anyone about Naruto's experimentation. If the rest of the council gets wind of this they'll finally have enough of a reason to have Naruto executed. They would see him as to great a threat because of his abilities and the information put inside of him. I can trust you to keep all of this secret correct?" Sarutobi asked.

"You have nothing to worry about Lord Hokage. Unlike most people on the council I have faith in Minato's work. Besides he'd never forgive me for selling out his kid." Inochi said with a smile.

Before the adults could discuss what to do anymore two blond children came into the room. One being forcefully pulled along by the other by the looks of it.

"Dad, can me and Naruto go out to play?" Ino asked. Inochi was shocked at first that a boy who went through what he did would be that open with someone he just met but, he just smiled.

"Sure you two go play."

With a happy smily Ino immediately turned and pulled the poor boy along with her. And once they were out of hearing range, the Hokage turned to Inochi who just smirked.

"Ino has a habit of picking people up off their feet but, let's talk about that later. The important thing is now that he's back in the village what are you going to do with him?" Inochi asked.

"I'm not quite sure yet. I don't want to send him back to the orphanage, because they would probably find out about Naruto's mutation, not to mention the unneeded mental stress he'd receive from the other kids. As for academics, I think I'll have Naruto enroll back into the academy."

* * *

Two Weeks Later

Naruto Uzumaki sat silently in the academy courtyard eating lunch by him self. His first day at the academy had been rather uneventful. When he arrived at school only one teacher looked remotely happy to see him, his old teacher Iruka Umino. Most of the students who knew Naruto from when he used to go to the academy expected him to make a spectacle of himself or set off some huge prank, but they were all surprised to see him sit down and take notes quietly. They didn't hear a peep out of him unless it was to answer a question that Iruka asked him. Then they were even more surprised that he gave the right answers.

At lunch Ino offered him a seat with her friends but, he politely to turn her down. It just wasn't worth it to hear the girls talk about their beloved Sasuke-kun. As he sat under the shade of a tree Naruto thought about how the students had changed.

Sasuke Uchiha who used to be just a quiet kid was now basically a perpetual angst machine. Of course, Naruto could understand to an extent considering Sasuke's situation but, he had been through worse, and he managed not to become a jackass.

Kiba was still loud an obnoxious. Naruto was avoiding him because he kept questioning him about where he had been when he was gone. The only thing different about him was the small dog he carried around with him by the name of Akamaru.

Hinata hadn't changed much but, he noted she was very happy to see him back at the academy. He asked her if she wanted to eat lunch with him, but she blushed Tomato red and declined before running off leaving him highly confused.

The rest of the class was as he remembered except Sakura who went from being shy to the loudest person in class. Chouji still inhaled food at the speed of light, and Shikamaru was still the laziest person you would ever meet.

After thinking about his classmates his thoughts began to drift back to his friends in Sea Country. Would Isaribi, Dashi, Zaku, Takashi, and the others be safe? Were they even alive? It was a lot for one nine year old to have on his mind.

As Naruto was eating he noticed that a couple of ants had slipped into his lunch box.

"Gee thanks a lot guys." he grumbled. Scooping the food they had been on off of his tray and started to chow down on the rest. "Alright then let's eat." the blond sighed to himself.

As Naruto continued to eat he noticed an unfamiliar smell. After a couple of light sniffs he looked up the tree. "Hey Shino, I didn't see you up there. Is this your spot?" the blond asked though, if you happened to walk by you would have thought Naruto was talking to the tree.

It was silent for a moment before a brown haired boy with sunglasses jumped lightly out of the tree. "Hello Naruto, to answer your question I don't mind if you sit here although, I'm curious how did you know it was me?" Shino asked him.

"I have a good nose. When the wind changed direction I caught the smell of a lot of bugs but, I didn't hear them so I guessed it was an Aburame in the tree because their bugs are silent when they're inside the body." Naruto replied.

Shino was slightly surprised that the idiot he used to know would ever make such a smart deduction, "But, no matter how good your nose is it should be well out of the range of the average human to know I was there just because of the bugs." he commented.

Naruto mentally began to panic. He didn't really have an excuse prepared incase someone got close to finding out about his abilities. "It's my bloodline." he lied through his teeth.

"I never heard of a clan like that in Konoha." Shino replied.

"Well to be honest I don't really know anything about my family. Uzumaki was just the name they gave me. Nobody has any idea who my parents are." the blond sadly replied.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you with my question." Shino apologived, now feeling a little bad at bringing up bad memories.

Naruto wiped the look of his face and replaced it with a small smile. "It's alright, you were just curious. So what are you doing here eating by yourself Shino?"

"I enjoy the peace it gives me. Besides, most of the other kids feel uncomfortable around me." Shino said his face devoid of emotion even though Naruto knew he heard a little bit of sadness in his voice.

"Why would they do that? I think your bugs are pretty cool. It's like having a whole bunch of pets with you. The only real problem you have is that you're too quiet and even that's not a bad thing."

Shino seemed a bit surprised by this but quickly regained his composure. "Umm...thank you Naruto." The bug user replied.

* * *

One Year Later

Naruto was adjusting to his old way of life fairly well. If anything he was getting along better than he use to. His quietness had kept him from drawing to much attention to himself and he was able to avoid a small amount of his old attackers.

He was able to make a couple of friends. The first was Ino Yamanaka who was determined to get him to be the same loudmouth he was before he left. Then there was Shino Aburame who Naruto could always count on for advice. Finally, Naruto had become good friends with Hinata Hyuuga who always seemed to be so kind to him.

Naruto was doing very well in the field of academics. Because of the knowledge Orochimaru already had put into him academy lessons were just like reminiscing and his test grades rivaled that of a certain pink-haired kunoichi. Because of his the three years he spent with no physical training aside from the basic upkeep Orochimaru wanted him to have, Naruto had a hard time readjusting to the physical aspects of the shinobi life. Luckily for him his heightened sense gave him superior aim, speed, and reaction time. Because of this at the end of the year he ranked fifth in taijutsu behind Sasuke, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba.

One of the things Naruto worked on was harnessing his power from the experiments done to him. Naruto still remembered the day that the Hokage told him what he knew of the experiments. That was the first in a very long time he lost his temper, and his hatred for those who did this to him grew. And worse off one of them was his own mother! Worse off that he was the Yondaime's son, and she blatly ingored that they looked identical. If that bitch was stupid enough to come back to Konoha she would get no sympathy from him. But, no matter how much he tried to wish death on the woman he would always see the Yodaime's face and calm down just a bit.

_'Damn you old man. As much as you've fucked up my life the least you owe me is the right to hate.' _Naruto thought bitterly.

Naruto's reminiscing was stopped short as he reached the destination he had been moving towards. The Higurashi weapon shop was one of the few businesses that let Naruto purchase from them. Apparently the old owner of the store used to make every shuriken, kunai, and other weapon that Minato had ever used. The current owner was a retired shinobi who was rumored to have worked in the same Anbu unit as him.

Naruto first came to this store as a thief. He would take all of the thrown out, defective kunai and shuriken that were considered unworthy for sale and used them. Unfortunately, or what would be fortunately in the future, very few people have the stealth skills to steal from an experienced member of the Anbu and he was caught. After recognizing who the boy was the weapon maker immediately asked why he was stealing from the trash instead of buying from the store. When Naruto told him that he didn't think they would let him in, the old man laughed and told him he was more than welcome at the store.

Naruto entered and made his way to the counter.

"Hey, old man Hiroshi have you finished my latest masterpiece." Naruto yelled up to the counter.

Behind the counter a tan skinned man with brown hair and green eyes who looked to be in his late thirties gave the boy a mock frown. "How many times have I told you not to call me an old man? I'm still in my prime." the retired Anbu retorted.

"Sure, sure, keep telling yourself that. So is it done?"

The weapon seller grinned and reached down under the counter. When he came back up he was holding what looked to be a large arrow head with a small hole at the top and a hole big enough for a person's hand at the bottom. It had a clear tube in the middle on both sides of the weapon. Upon closer examination one would notice liquid in side of them.

"I gotta admit I had my doubts about this one, but I think it's got potential. I made it just like you designed it. Click the switch on the right of the inside of it." Hiroshi told him.

Naruto put his hand into it and did as he was told. Immediately a two and a half foot long blade extended from the contraption. "Wow this is great work old man. The Higurashi's remain the best weapon makers in Konoha. Did you put it in?"

"Push the button on the left. The liquid on the right is the poison that's usable." Hiroshi told him. When Naruto did so there was a small clicking sound and the liquid in the tubes changed. "You press the button in the middle to release the poison on to the blade. If you don't mind me asking though, what's with that extra hole you asked for? I didn't really seem to have much of a purpose." the weaponsmith asked him.

"For most people it wouldn't it's really more of an experiment. I wouldn't add it to the model you'll sell at the store." Naruto told him.

"So you got a name for it yet?" Hiroshi asked him.

"Not yet but it'll come to me. See you later old man. I'm going to go train with this thing." the blond replied before leaving the store.

Unknown to both of them there was another person watching there conversation. A brown haired girl with brown eyes made her way up to the counter.

"Dad who was that guy?" the girl asked.

"Oh, why would you want to know Tenten?" Hiroshi said with a smile on his face causing the young girl to blush.

"I didn't want to know because of that! I was curious about that weapon. Did he really design that himself?" Tenten asked her father.

"Oh yes. That boy has quite the creative mind. He's come up with a couple of other designs before too. He comes to me with ideas and if it's possible we build it and I sell it in the store with a fifty percent cut to Naruto." Hiroshi replied to the curious girl.

Since Tenten was curious about the boy and wanted to find out what the weapon could do she decided to follow the blond to his training site. As she followed the boy she was amazed at how sharp his senses were. He almost caught her a couple of times and she had to retreat back some to remain out of sight.

Finally Naruto stopped in a small clearing in the forest. Tenten watched as Naruto took some practice strikes with the strange weapon.

"Alright let's see if it works with my other abilities." Naruto said to himself confusing the girl hiding in the trees.

_'Other abilities? What is he talking about?' _Tenten thought to herself. It was at that moment the girl saw something she would never forget. Naruto took off the strange weapon and started to concentrate. In a second a four foot long tail covered with green scales came out of the base of Naruto's back.

Tenten had the reaction that any eleven year old girl, who would done have after seeing someone grow a giant lizard tail.

"AIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!" Naruto heard someone scream before he heard something falling out of the tree.

When he went to check what it was he saw a very frightened girl staring up at him pointing a finger at his tail. She had brown hair that was tied up into two buns and brown eyes. She was also wearing a Chinese-style pink shirt and brown pants.

"H-how in the world? Why do you have a TAIL?" Tenten shouted.

Naruto immediately began to sweat. He thought he sensed someone on his way here. He didn't know her but, he thought he had seen her at the academy before. She also had a striking resemblance to Hiroshi. "You're Hiroshi's daughter aren't you?" the blond asked.

Instead of a response the girl continued to gape at his tail. Realizing tat they would get nowhere fast unless he did otherwise Naruto retracted the tail.

"H-how did you...why?" Tenten asked.

"Bloodline. I have the ability to take the forms of certain animals. The weapon I had your dad design was made to assist me in this form. You're old man Hiroshi's daughter right?" Naruto asked the girl causing her to break out of her stupor.

"Umm...yeah. My name is Tenten. What's yours?" the girl asked him.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. So, why were you following me?" Naruto asked the girl.

"I was curious about that weapon you made. My dad said you made others before that one. Could you show me?" Tenten asked.

Naruto quickly thought about it. If he didn't show her she might go blabbing his secrets. He also figured that he owed Hiroshi anyway. "Alright I'll show you one." he said as he pulled a small scroll from his pocket. Naruto opened it a little bit and put his hand on a strange seal written on the scroll. After pushing some chakra into the seal there was a burst of smoke and Naruto held a sword in his hand.

The sword in his hand had a straight, double edged, thin blade. The handle had an oriental design and a small golden tassel hung from the bottom. The thing that caught Tenten's attention the most however was the strange seals written on the blade.

"This is the Shinkirouken (Mirage blade). I got the idea for it when I learned that you could put seal's on items. It uses a slight variation of the seals for the Clone Jutsu to make clones that follow and move head of the sword to confuse the users opponent." Naruto said as he slowly swung the sword in the air. Tenten watched as what looked to be two more blades come out of the side of the sword.

"So you know how to use a sword?" the brunette asked him.

"Yes."

"Do you think you could teach me?"


	3. Training with the Snake Charmer

I don't own Naruto.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

After his encounter with Tenten the two aspiring ninja had been training together. Naruto had to admit that Tenten was a fast learner when it came to weapons. Her skill was developing almost as fast as he did when he picked up the sword. She probably would have done better if it wasn't for the dormant knowledge Naruto held.

Naruto had to admit he was having a pretty good week. He made a new friend. The villagers hadn't been giving him any crap. He still got the glares, but people left him alone. He got some time to hang out with Ino and Shino and even managed to have a complete conversation with Hinata without her acting weird. To top it all off the Hokage had arranged for him to have a trainer outside of the academy. So he was currently making his way to the Hokage tower.

When Naruto was close to the Saidaime's office a familiar scent drifted into his nostrils. The scent in itself wasn't what bothered the blond. The boy was angered because what that smell was linked to. It was the scent of snakes but, not just any snakes. These were the snakes that were found around Orochimaru.

His mind didn't even have time to register the brief yet enormous amount of rage that had radiated off him in waves. And because he didn't have time to register the killing intent leaking off of him he was surprised by the two Anbu who had their blades poised at his neck.

"Uh, what's going on old man? Whatever it is I swear I didn't do it." Naruto asked nervously.

"Oh, so it wasn't your killing intent coming from the other side of the door?" the dead-panned said causing the boy to wince.

"Sorry, I smelled a snake. I'm sure you know that they're not exactly my favorite animal." Naruto said a bit embarrassed that he let his temper go.

"I guess that's understandable, but I suggest the next time you enter the office of a Kage you don't let your temper get the better of you. But we should get to the matter at hand. I'd like you to meet your new sensei." the Hokage replied as he brought his arm out to the person who would train him.

Naruto was embarrassed to admit that he didn't even notice the woman standing next to the old man's desk. It was only made worse because she was the one the smell had come from. The woman had short purple hair and hazel pupiless eyes. She wore a long, tan jacket over a fishnet shirt and an orange skirt.

"This is your sensei, Anko Mitsurashi. She will be training you outside of your academy classes." the old Kage said.

As Naruto looked at the woman in front of her he was a little disappointed. The monster he planned to go up against was a demon straight from the deepest, hottest pit in hell. He seriously doubted that the rather simple woman in front of him would be able to prepare him to take on someone like Orochimaru

"Old man, are you sure she is the best person to teach me?" the boy asked slightly angering his new teacher.

Truth be told, training Naruto Uzuamki was the last thing she wanted to do with her free time. Not only was the kid taking up her days off but, he wasn't exactly going to help her public image. Being linked to one of the greatest traitors in the history of Konoha wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, and she doubted being linked to the most powerful enemy in the history of Konoha would exactly help her either. There were only to reasons that she even considered teaching the blond brat. The first was the fact that the Hokage had asked her to. He was probably the kindest person she knew and he was one of the few people who tried to help her when she was brought back to Konoha after receiving the bastard's mark. The second reason was a bit more malevolent. When she agreed to help him, since the Hokage had informed her of Naruto's unique condition_. _

She hadn't been surprised at the sickness Orochimaru's experimentation. He was willing to put a seal on a young girl, a girl who was his student that could have killed her easily. She didn't expect him to have mercy towards a young boy either. But she was more surprised that he had let something with Naruto's potential slip out of his hands. Naruto was the perfect tool to help her get the revenge she craved. He had the potential to do things that others could only dream about. He could breathe underwater, go invisible, fly, his body was tougher and stronger, and he had senses that would put the best of the Inuzuka to shame. Now add all of that to the fact that he had a small encyclopedia of shinobi knowledge centered on her fighting style.

It was almost enough to make her drool.

However, this less than excited attitude of his wasn't exactly what she expected. She should have been happy with the fact that he was at least angry at the bastard if his earlier actions were any indication. But the fact that he disregarded her so easily...it wasn't something that Anko was going to take lying down.

"If you'll excuse us Lord Hokage, I need to start teaching my little disciple." Anko said as she walked over the boy smiling evilly.

Before Naruto could react the woman had grabbed him by the color of his shirt and slung him over her back before disappearing. As the Hokage watched them leave he couldn't help but think, _'Did I make the safest choice for Naruto?'_

* * *

The Forest of Death

When Anko finally dropped the slightly nauseous boy they were in front of a large barb wire fence. When Naruto felt safe standing up again he turned and glared at the purple-haired kunoichi.

"What the hell was that for? I would've just followed you!" Naruto shouted surprising the woman. From what the old man had said the boy was usually quite and a little bit shy. She didn't expect him to yell at her. Perhaps it had something to do with the scent of snakes she carried.

"Well gaki, judging by your little attitude towards me in the old mans office I'd say that you didn't think I'd make a very good teacher." Anko said.

"Dragging me half way across town and calling me a brat doesn't exactly help change my opinion." Naruto retorted almost causing his new teacher to hit him.

"Well how about we make a little deal. You and I are going to play a little game here in the Forest of Death." she smirked while pointing to the ominous woods. "If you can manage to land a single blow on me or stop me from 'killing' you before sunset I'll direct you towards the greatest ninjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, and genjutsu experts Konoha has to offer. When...no if you lose you will follow my every instruction to the letter. You'll also be my personal slave for the next month."

"You're on, let's get this started so I can find a real teacher." Naruto responded with a smirk.

"A confident brat are we? Alright then let's get started. Oh and by the way, the Hokage has already informed me of your condition. So don't be afraid to use any of your animal forms while we're in the forest. Well little Naru-chan, the clock is ticking. Let's get started shall we?" Anko finished giving her instructions before hopping the fence and going into the forest.

Naruto smirked before focusing his chakra into his shoulders. Shortly after that two huge pairs of bat wings sprung from his back. Using his new appendages he flew over the fence and started to chase the strange woman. _'Let's see how tough this Anko Mitsurashi is.'_

* * *

Inside The Forest of Death

Naruto had to say that he was a little less than impressed. As a matter of fact, he was actually quite angry. This woman who was supposed to be his teacher had under estimated him to the point that it almost made him sick. He had followed the kunoichi's scent for about ten minutes before finding that the trail had stopped.

He looked ahead to see His sensei sitting on a tree branch with a small lunch sitting on her lap happily eating with a care free look on her face. Naruto was almost so angry that he gave away his position but, held back his rage. After all, if she kept up her end of the deal then her incompetence would lead him to training under the best of the best.

Quietly Naruto retracted his wings and grew out his lizard claws. He turned himself invisible and put a minor Transformation Jutsu over him to completely block himself from sight. Slowly the disguised blond made his way towards the tree his pray was in and he began his slow ascent, his nails digging into the bark of the tree. Finally the boy had reached the branch his sensei was resting on and he made his way to her side. Happy with his distance near the seemingly unaware woman Naruto and lunged at the kunoichi to punch her in the face. So of course you could imagine Naruto's surprise at seeing the woman bend back and bring her legs up to catch Naruto's arm in the blink of an eye.

"Well that wasn't very nice of you. But, I'm glad to see that you weren't going to hold back your punches because I'm a girl. However..." Anko said as she forcefully brought her legs down and pulling Naruto's arm with her before letting go. "You're still greatly underestimating me." she casually finished her sentance as she watched the boy fall.

She was glad what the old man said about the kids endurance was true. She doubted that the Hokage would enjoy hearing that she threw her student out of a tree, breaking every bone in his body.

'_Perhaps that was a little much...nah.' _she thought happily.

"Well, the good news is that you have plenty of time to try again before sundown. The bad news is that in an hour before sunset I'm going to start coming after you. But the worse news is that now I have to find somewhere else to eat lunch." Anko said with a pout before disappearing into the forest leaving the young chimera in pain.

Almost an hour later Naruto had to admit that he had greatly underestimated his new teacher. He didn't know why he didn't like her. Maybe he was expecting someone who looked a little more unique, darker, sagely, or heroic. Maybe it was because her smell brought him back to that demonic excuse for a lab with Orochimaru. Whatever it was it caused him to make the biggest mistake of his life.

He tried almost everything he knew to land a successful blow on Anko. But no matter what weapon he used, or what form he changed into, the woman would always evade him at the last second, and leave him in some sort of pain.

Now to make things even worse it had been almost ten minutes since it was her turn to come after him. Naruto doubted he could pull off escape moves like her so he decided to take a sneakier approach. About ten minutes before his time was up Naruto followed the smell of water to a river that ran through the forest of death. Naruto focused his chakra all over his body and his morphed into green scales. His hands and feet grew and changed shape until they looked similar to the limbs of a frog. He then grew a pair of gills on his neck before jumping into the water to wait out the rest of the day.

With almost twenty minutes to go Naruto was felling pretty confident. As long as he stayed in the water she couldn't find him. And even if she did her speed would be drastically decreased in the river, and he would have a serious advantage. With twenty minutes left till sun down he began to feel strange. The water was ever so slightly going up in temperature. He didn't really worry too much. Although he was curious why water temperatures would rise during the night. Naruto's first real sign of worry came when he started to see bubbles in the water and then it hit him.

Someone was actually boiling the river!

Naruto jumped out of the river flopping around like a fish out of water. It was then that he noticed the source of the heat. Anko was standing on the other side of the river blowing a stream of fire in front of where he was in the lake.

"Well it looks like there are some pretty big fish in this river. One of them is almost the same size as Naru-chan." Anko said with a smile.

"Damn you." Naruto muttered. He didn't really want to try and fight her again, and she would probably chase him down before he could run. Naruto was about to give up when he noticed something. It meant he not only had a chance of winning, but a good chance and it caused him to laugh long and hard.

"Oh, what's so funny Naru-chan?" Anko said.

"Look where we are Anko-_sensei. _You're on the other side of the river which puts me in the position to win." Naruto said with a smile causing the purple-haired woman to raise and eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

"You're on the opposite side of the river meaning that you can't get to me without giving me and advantage. If you go around the river the sun will have set and I win. If you jump over it you'll be going in a straight line, and I'll be able to get in a hit. And if you try to swim over then I'll have the advantage in my half fish transformation. I win." he said full of pride.

"Well, I gotta admit that you've thought this through. However," Anko said as she began to walk on top of the water towards the boy "You left out one scenario." she finished with a smirk.

Naruto couldn't believe it. He had heard about a lot of things in class, but they never told the students that they could walk on water. He knew he couldn't out run her so he had one option left. "Okay, I think you might make a good sensei but..." Naruto said as he changed back to normal and he pulled out a small scroll, "I still don't like you. So I hope your not offended by the fact that I want to continue are little game." the blond continued as he unsealed the Shinkiroken.

Naruto grew out his large black wings and flew towards the purple haired Kunoichi. He went to swing at the woman with Shinkirouken which she easily dodged. The confusing sword copies that the blade were pretty useful against an opponent around the user's level, but against someone as advanced as Anko it barely even warranted attention.

One minute left before sun set Anko finally decided to finish it. After dodging Naruto's last strike Anko leaped off of the river and in to a nearby tree.

"It's been fun playing with you Naru-chan but, I need to end this, Striking Shadow Snakes!" Anko shouted a several long snakes came out of Anko's sleeve and rush towards Naruto. The snakes grabbed the boy by the arms and pulled back sending him flying into the tree Anko had landed on. Before Naruto could recover he felt the cold metal of a kunai against his throat.

"Well it looks like I win Naru-chan and with twenty seconds to spare." Anko said to a dazed Naruto.

Naruto couldn't believe it he gave it his all and now he was left with someone who annoyed him to the core. So now he had to ask the only question that made sense. "Why?" he asked catching Anko's attention.

"Why what, Naru-chan? Don't tell me you're going to cry now that you've lost." Anko continued to mock the boy.

"Why did you keep playing with me, Why would you even want to train me, and most of all, why would the old man pick someone to train me that he knew would remind me of the person I hate the most in life?" he angerly mumbled.

Anko took the kunai away from his neck and put her arms around him, "You aren't the only person to be hurt by that creature Naruto. Turn around so I can show you something." she said with a caring voice that surprised the boy. He did as she said to see Anko pulling down the collar of her jacket to show her neck. At the base of her neck were three strange black tomoe marks.

"There was once a time where I was Orochimaru's student. I was actually his star pupil to be honest." she continued with a sad smile. "I used to love learning under him, but then he began to change. He was lest concerned about the village and more about him self and what he could do. He started to do experiments on the citizens of Konoha. His goal was immortality. I was with him during one of the experiments on some girl. It was probably a few years before you were brought there. However people were starting to get suspicious around our area. That was when Orochimaru decided to abandon the Sea Country lab. That was the point at which he decided I was no longer of use to him but, before he left Orochimaru gave me the mark you see on my neck."

This mark is called the Curse Seal. It has the potential to give someone great strength, but it comes at a heavy price. A strong person only has about a one in ten chance of surviving the seal and it also puts you at the mercy of the person who gave it to you. This was his last _gift _before he threw me away." Anko continued seething, "The reason I decided to teach you was not because the old man asked me to. I'm going to train you because you're Orochimaru's biggest mistake. You have more potential than any bloodline user in history, plus a nearly endless supply of chakra, and he let you slip out of his hands and back into Konoha's. I'm training you because I can guarantee you that by the time I'm done, you and me will be able to finish off that bastard once and for all. So what do you say Gaki, I can't make you strong if you don't cooperate." Anko asked.

Naruto looked away from the woman before turning back with a smile on his face. "When do we start training Anko-sensei?" he asked.

Anko looked at him and smiled cheerfully. "As soon as your month of servitude is over Naru-chan." she said causing the boy to gasp.

"But-"

"We did have an agreement Naru-chan. Aren't you a man of your word." Anko said as her innocent smile was replaced with one filled with evil intent.

"Fine, I guess you're right, but when are you gonna stop calling me Naru-chan?"

"Never."

"I really dislike you."

"Good, that means I'm doing my job. Now come on Naru-chan, I've got some cleaning I need you to do."

* * *

Three years later

Naruto was casually making his way towards the academy. Today was the day that he would take the exam to become a real shinobi and he was pretty confident in his ability to pass.

Over the last three years Anko forced him to move in with her, and had trained him into a very skilled kid for his age. Most of the things she taught him he already knew. Anko was just reawakening the dormant memories. Although Naruto was lacking in genjutsu he could fend off the basic ones. His taijustu was somewhere in the top three at the academy, although no one at the academy knew, he was almost three times better than the current rookie of the year.

It was partly because the woman never held back on him. When learning new exercises she wouldn't settle for anything near below average and when reawakening the dormant knowledge she would make the boy practice till it was flawless. She could be very sadistic one moment and be as nurturing as a mother the next. She knew his limits and would never push him past them.

Over all, the two had formed a sibling relationship. Anko Mitsurashi was already a name to be respected by the male population of Konoha, but when they heard she had a little body guard with teeth it became even more threatening. Any man foolish enough to try to swoon Anko had to go through her little shield first, and anyone who was dumb enough to harass Anko didn't last long between her and the boy. This relationship was a two way one. Anko had managed to get rid of a few glares once she was going around town with Naruto. Some of the stores that wouldn't accept him even opened their doors.

Naruto's mental state had drastically improved as well. He was beginning to get louder again, even if it was only when his friends were involved. He seemed to be a little livelier and his hate had begun to fade away a bit. But Naruto still carried the deep grudge against those involved in Orochimaru's sick little attempt to play God. Even his mother had not waned away in his rage.

One of the most notable changes to Naruto was his wardrobe. Even though Anko was willing to let him wear his orange jumpsuit on everyday occasions, and lower level missions she insisted that he get something darker, and less noticeable a week before the graduation exam. Naruto now owned a long trench coat like Anko's and two jackets. The coat and the first jacket were black in color, and the third was a green camo trench coat that changed colors for different environments when he pushed chakra into it which was a gift from the Higurashi's. He had a black, red, and another green camo shirt. He also had a pair of black, and green camo baggy pants along with black shinobi sandals, and black fingerless gloves to cover the tubes on his hands.

Today Naruto was wearing the black trench coat, black shirt, gloves, and green camo pants for the first time. As he entered his academy class he was a bit surprised by the shocked looks he was receiving as kids came into class. Did he really look that different?

Naruto received his answer when Ino and Shino came into the room.

"Naruto, why do you look like something that just hopped out of the matrix?" Ino asked causing the boy's head to drop.

"Come on Ino-chan, I don't look that different do I?" Naruto asked.

"You look like someone properly dressed you. Did Anko-san come over to your house this morning and do this personally?" the blond-haired girl continued to pester him.

Over the last three years Anko got to know Naruto and the people he was around very well. Perhaps it was because she reminded her of a young Anko or the fact that her father helped Anko during her mental rehabilitation after the Orochimaru incident, but Anko really took a liking to the blond-haired girl. She had even taken her under her wings. Even though Anko rarely let the girl join in a training session she had taken great care to transfer her 'I don't take crap' attitude on to the aspiring young kunoichi.

It was this that led to one day that would make Ino Yamanaka into the most feared girl in the academy. Ino had been bothering Sasuke when he replied this time a bit more rudely then normal. The Yamanaka didn't take this well, and after telling him to fuck off she shoved her knee into a very uncomfortable place. This was also the end of Ino's Sasuke chasing days.

"I think the outfit is a nice change Ino." a calm voice said from behind the girl causing her to almost jump out of her skin.

"You really need to give people a warning when you walk up to them Shino. Just say 'Hi' or something man." Naruto said to the ever silent Aburame.

"I'll consider your words Naruto. What may I ask caused the clothing change?" Shino asked.

"Anko-sensei said that I needed darker clothes for my higher ranked missions. I was just wondering what I would look like in something different so I decided to wear this today." the blond replied causing Ino to snort.

"You just wanted to look cool when you got your hitai-ate didn't you?" Ino stated causing a small sweat-drop to make its way down the front of her fellow blonds head.

"I knew it." she sighed.

As more kids made their way into the classroom Iruka made his way to his desk. After the bell rang he quieted down the class and began to speak.

"Today you will all be taking the graduation exam. To those of you who pass, it has been a privilege to teach all of you. To those of you who fail, we'll work hard to make sure you pass next year. Now we will begin to pass out the paper portion of the exam." Iruka announced.

Naruto found the paper part to be fairly easy. He figured he would score somewhere in the high eighty's and low ninety's. The weapon portion of the test was easy enough. It did help that he was friends with one of the most accurate shots the academy has ever seen outside of special clans. All that was left was the ninjutsu portion. When Naruto heard his name called he made his way to the examination room were Iruka and Mizuki were waiting for him.

"Alright Naruto all you have to do is create to fully functional clone and you pass." Iruka said causing the boy to frown.

Although Naruto was pretty good with most clone jutsu's his academy grade clones were a bit of a problem. It wasn't that Naruto couldn't do it, but more like it was more harmful then helpful. Anko noticed that the reason Naruto seemed to have more trouble with the Clone Jutsu than other techniques was because he was using too much chakra for an almost worthless technique. She would have advised him to drop the technique altogether, but he needed some type of clone to pass the academy and a higher level one would attract more attention than he needed.

The young chimera stood before his teachers and calmed him self. He quickly ran through the seal while letting out the smallest amount of chakra he could manage for the technique. As half of the energy had left his body he quickly closed off his tenketsu and worked with what he had. It was painful to try to force out chakra and suppress it at the same time, but it got the job done.

"Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he was engulfed by a small cloud of smoke. As the smoke disappeared Iruka and Mizuki saw two clones standing on each side of the original. It hurt like hell, but he managed to hide his pain.

"So what do you say Iruka-sensei, do I pass?" the three clones said in unison.

"Of course Naruto, congratulations on passing." Iruka congratulated hislast, and secretly to himself most favorite student.

Naruto sat on one of the swings in then academy yard watching the other students being congratulated. He was happy that he passed, but most of it faded away when he made his way outside to see all of the other student's teachers. What good was it to accomplish something if you are the only one around to celebrate? Just as he thought that he heard a small conversation near him.

"Can believe they actually let _him_ pass?"

"I know, he's way to dangerous to have as a shinobi with-"

"You know we're not suppose to talk about that." the two women said causing him to sigh.

He had managed to get use to the hate of the villager's, but it still hurt from time to time. It didn't seem fair. He had never hurt anyone he was even helping a couple of people. But it seemed that no matter what he did he would be hated in Konoha. These people who were generally the kindest community of any shinobi village, would turn sullen, angry, or down right demonic when they saw him. And for what? They didn't trust the work of the man, who saved their village?

Although, Naruto couldn't blame them entirely. A certain nine tailed bastard deserved ninety-nine point nine percent of the blame. To understand their hate he had to listen to what the Hokage said about Kyuubi. The thing was a monster, destruction incarnate. It came in and in one day it took a large bite out of the shinobi population. It made the strongest of the shinobi villages look like the frail leaf they were named after. If not for Naruto's father the entire village would be destroyed. But it still did more than enough to Konoha to gain more hate then Stone, Cloud, and Orochimaru put together. This thing had just popped up, made their lives hell, and disappeared. It's only connection to the world...Naruto Uzumaki. So it made sense that when the creature was gone and they were trying to accept the death's and damage to the village that they would turn against the child.

Tired of thinking about his life, he was about to go home when a voice called to him.

"Hey Naruto!" Naruto looked to see a purple-haired kunoichi waiting for him. Slowly he got up and made his way towards Anko with a small frown on his face. Anko saw this and immediately began to worry. She became even more worried when she saw that he wouldn't look her in the eye. And then it hit her...she couldn't see a hitai-ate on him anywhere.

"Naruto, you can always take the test again." she said trying to cheer the boy up.

"Why would I want to do that?" Naruto said so coldly that it almost scared her. He didn't give up on being a shinobi did he? "I already passed it." he grinned as he pulled up the coat sleeve to reveal the symbol of the leaf. Anko went sad to happy and then to demonic rage in less than ten seconds.

"IDIOT! DON'T EVER JOKE LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Anko screamed as she beat the boy on top of his head.

"Come on Anko-sensei, considering some of the things you've done to me over the last few years I think I deserve one joke. Remember the time I almost got eaten by one of your snakes?" Naruto rebutted as he rubbed his sore head.

"I guess I can let you go this time. Speaking of snakes, I want you to follow me. I have a graduation present for you."

* * *

Forest of Death

Once they reached Training Area Forty-four Anko took a small scroll out of her pocket and presented it to Naruto.

"This is your gift for graduating. I was able to get a smaller copy of the snake summoning contract from my serpents. If you sign your name in blood you'll be able to summon snakes." Anko said with a smile.

"Why would I want to summon a bunch of legless bastards?" Naruto scowled causing his sensei to sigh.

"Naruto, I know that you don't like snakes. After I was abandoned by him I wasn't fond of them either. But you can't hold Orochimaru's actions against innocent animals your whole life. Besides, having a summon animal is something that saves the lives of many shinobi, and you're probably not going to be able to get a contract from anywhere else. There are only seven summon animals that exist in Konoha. The apes belong to the Hokage and his family, and I don't even want to know what kind of uproar will come from you getting that contract. The current holder of the slug contract has left Konoha with no plans of coming back. The deer contract is with the Nara Clan and they'll probably keep it in their family. The owner of the dog contract is probably saving it for his first pupil, and I don't want you anywhere near the person who holds the turtle contract. All that leaves is the toad contracts owner, and he's almost as hard to get a hold of as the slug contract owner. Besides, could you imagine the look on Orochimaru's face when you feed him to his own snakes? It would be beautiful." Anko sighed with a dreamy look on her face.

Naruto sighed before taking the scroll from Anko's hand. "I guess I don't have much of a choice do I? Now what do I have to do with this thing?"

"First you have to sign your name in blood. After that put all five fingers for your summoning hand at the bottom of the scroll, let the blood dry, and the contract is complete."

After the contract was set Anko showed Naruto the necessary hand seals and instructed the boy to give it a shot. "Here I go, Summoning Jutsu!" he shouted before he slammed his right hand to the ground causing a plume of smoke to rise.

When the smoke dissipated Naruto was rather pleased with the result. Lying between him and Anko was a fourteen foot long boa constrictor with purple skin and green eyes. It yawned lazily before turning its head towards Anko and doing the last thing Naruto expected of it.

"Anko, Why did you summon me?" the snake asked dispassionately causing the boy to gawk.

"That thing can talk?" Naruto yelled in disbelief.

"Hey quit being so loud. It's too troublesome to deal with you." the snake mumbled.

"Naruto, this is Bushou, Manda's oldest son." Anko introduced thee two.

"Who's Manda?" Naruto responded making the snake stare at him with anger.

"Manda is the summon boss of the snakes and one of the strongest summons on earth. It would take two average summon bosses to even stand a chance against my father. Don't you know anything? Why did you summon me Anko? I hope it wasn't just as an example for this brat." the snake demanded sleepily.

"Actually, I wasn't the one who summoned you here. I instructed Naruto to try the Summoning Jutsu and you are what he summoned. Next time you should try for something a little more enthusiastic." Anko said causing Bushou to make his way towards Naruto in disbelief.

"So this is the brat that you wanted the contract for. I'm surprised he was able to summon a snake of my caliber on his first try. I wonder..." Bushou lazily said as he made his way towards Naruto's leg and began to make the assent to the blonds face, "Tell me, what is your connection with the demons? A strange chakra seems to radiate from deep within you." the snake remarked surprising the boy.

"When the Kyuubi attacked several years ago the Yondaime sealed it within me in order to save the village." Naruto told the snake.

"Well this is almost worth being woken up from my nap. Perhaps, when I'm done sleeping I'll tell father about you. I think he'd find this interesting. May I leave now?" the lazy snake asked.

"Sure." the blond replied and the snake disappeared in a cloud of smoke, causing the dispeller to gag.

Anko smiled towards the boy before walking away, "You've got one week until you get placed on your Genin team. I suggest that you train your summons over that time." she said as she left the boy to work.

Four days later we find out favorite chimera hard at work.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto yelled out before slamming his hand into the ground. After the plume of smoke disappeared a snake about the size of a ten story house with two heads standing before him. Hr cursed before dispelling the serpent and going through the hand seals again.

This was Naruto's fourth day working on the Summoning Jutsu. He knew it would be a tough technique to learn but, not this tough. He had been making slow progress. After his first try with Bushou he had been increasing size by a couple of feet with every summon. The only problem was that in the first two days he hadn't come across a snake that looked anything like Bushou, and no snake that claimed to be the boss. It frustrated him to the point where he was ready to quit for the day. Maybe he would ask Anko for help so he could finally summon the boss. Before he would leave though, he decided to put all of the chakra he had into one last try.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he was engulfed in a giant cloud of smoke

Meanwhile, Anko was making her way to the forest of death to check on Naruto. She had to admit he was doing better than she did when she tried to summon Manda, though but then again, Naruto really had a habit of passing her expectations. That was mainly the reason she was on her way to see Naruto.

She forgot to leave one small reminder with the boy while he was training. Although most snakes were easy to control the summon boss Manda would be a little bit harder to tame. He would be especially displeased if Naruto didn't have a sacrifice for him when he was summoned. She didn't really expect the boy to summon Manda, or any snake that size takes more chakra then a kid his age would have.

So you can imagine Anko's unpleasant surprise at seeing the giant figure of a purple snake looming over the forest of death.

Standing before the giant creature was a Naruto with his jaw hanging to the ground. He had summoned some big snakes but this...COLOSSUS warranted a whole new species of animal. The monster snake not only took up the whole field, but it was also crushing most of the trees around him. The creature gave off a large feeling of superiority, and the small frown on its face recommend that Naruto show this beast his best manners.

Before Naruto could think of anything to say the giant snake glared down at him. "Hmm...what is this? Where is Orochimaru boy? Why has he summoned me here? You better not be the only sacrifice he has offered this time. I'll kill him when I see him!" Manda screamed causing the boy to almost wet himself.

"Actually Lord Manda." Naruto said so quietly that the snake could barely hear him, "I was the one who summoned you. Anko Mitsurashi gave me the summoning contract for the snakes and I have been working to summon the biggest snake I could. I hope I have not disturbed you in the middle of something important." he squeaked out.

"Do you take me for a fool child? There is no way someone of your age could even summon the weakest of my clan." Manda replied.

"But it's true Lord Manda. I was even able to summon your son, Bushou on my first try." Naruto said causing the giant snake to widen it eyes.

"Hmm, now that you mention it my boy did say something about being summoned by a child a few days ago. I'm surprised that you would be able to make such progress over four days. But if what he said about you and Kyuubi are true than I guess it is possible. Now that you have summoned me, we need to discuss certain parts of your contract." Manda started getting to business, causing the boy to stare at him curiously.

"What do you mean Lord Manda? I thought all I needed was a drop of blood and a sufficient amount of chakra."

"For most summons that would be a sufficient sacrifice to gain their aid, but you seek to summon more than just any animal boy. The snakes are among the elite summons. We're almost three times stronger than your average summons and as such we demand certain privileges. Although you won't need anything to summon my subordinates, summoning me will cost you. Either during the event you have summoned me or before and after that event I demand a offering of two-hundred human lives to appease my appetite." Manda said to the boy. It was then that Manda heard something that he had never heard before and would never hear again for the rest of his life.

"No." Naruto whispered while looking towards the ground shaking slightly.

"What was that boy? I didn't quite catch it. It almost sounded as if you told me-"

"I SAID NO!" Naruto shouted at the giant snake. "Ever since I talked to your son I got the feeling that you guys were a little to big headed for my taste, but this "offering" of yours is way more retarded than I thought you would be. I'm not going to send two-hundred people to their deaths just so I can summon an over grown belt like you. Your head is way to far up your ass Hebi-teme!" he roared causing the snake to focus all of its killing intent on the boy.

Manda knew that not all of the people who possessed the snake contract agreed to his offer. It was part of the reason that he rarely saw a human more than once. But nobody ever had the audacity to say how they felt about it to his face. Especially, with such colorful language.

"You're saying some things you can't back up gaki. I would watch my mouth if I were you." Manda threatened the boy who summoned him.

"I don't take back a thing I said bastard!" Naruto said pushing the snake over the edge.

"You've said far too much boy! For that, I'm banning your use of the snake contract. Do not call on me or any of my kin until you have provided twice the necessary amount of sacrifices. If you are foolish enough to go against my word we will not hesitate to eat you." Manda hissed at him before disappearing in a huge cloud of smoke.

Anko was happy to see that Manda didn't eat the boy, but she was curious about the angry look on his face, especially when it was directed towards her. "Did you ever do it?" Naruto mumbled with anger that Anko had never seen from him.

"Do what Naruto, what happened between you and Manda?" Anko asked worriedly.

"Did you ever give that bastard the "offering" he wanted?" the blond demanded causing the purple-haired woman to sigh.

"I've been purposely avoiding even calling on that guy because of the sacrifice he wants. The only snake summoner I know that calls on Manda is Orochimaru. I didn't expect you to even come close to being able to summon Manda by the end of the week. I should have warned you about him." she apologised for not warning him.

"It's not your fault Anko-sensei, but now I can't summon any snakes. When I told that bastard how I felt about his little request he took away my right to summon any snake until I gave him the sacrifice he wanted." Naruto said bitterly.

"I'm sorry Naruto it looks like the snake summon is out of your reach."

Later that night Naruto sat in the forest that night silently brooding. The incident with Manda had enraged him greatly. When he thought about it later it began to make some sense to him. Manda could speak like a human, but he was still a snake, one of the most feared predators in the animal kingdom. Humans were his prey, and even if he could communicate with their lives still didn't mean that much as long as his stomach was filled. But even if he did understand he would never give up two-hundred people. That was something Orochimaru would do, and he refused to be compared to that snake.

And at the same time he was now stuck with the snake contract. Even if he could get someone else he would still have to make some agreement with the two clans which he was sure Manda would not agree to it after their little altercation. But Naruto wasn't just the kind to give up. He might not like Manda, but he wasn't above working with him if it could protect his friends and kill Orochimaru. But to get Manda's aid he would have to give him the sacrifice or something of equal value to the snake. So the question was what do you give giant snake that it would like just as much as a huge meal?

Before Naruto could think about his problem any more he heard the sound of someone approaching. Naruto quickly activated his camouflage and waited for them to pass. He was surprised to see Mizuki bounding into the field while being chased by Iruka. Mizuki was carrying a large scroll and two large shuriken on his back.

"Give back the scroll Mizuki!" Iruka shouted causing the silver-haired shinobi to snort.

"Sorry Iruka." Mizuki sneered as he grabbed for one of the shuriken on his back "I'm afraid I can't do that!" he shouted as he stopped to throw the giant weapon. Iruka who was in mid jump was unable to avoid the giant shuriken and waited for the impact with his eyes closed. He was surprised when he felt nothing and opened his eyes to see a certain blond-haired boy holding the shuriken from the hole in the center.

"Hey Iruka-sensei, this isn't a training exercise is it." Naruto asked.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Iruka demanded.

"I was just thinking about some stuff. So what is Mizuki-sensei holding?" the pre-teen asked causing Iruka's face to harden.

"About half an hour ago, Mizuki was caught fleeing from the Hokage tower. That scroll he's carrying is the scroll of sealing. That holds every technique known by the Yondaime, and the previous Hokage's. We can't let him get away with it."

"I see. Why don't you let me handle this sensei? It'll make a pretty good first mission." Naruto said as he slowly made his way towards Mizuki with his hands in his pockets.

"You really think you can take me Naruto? I'll kill you so quickly you won't even know I attacked. But before I do, would you like to know why everyone in the village hates you?" Mizuki said causing Iruka's eyes to widen.

"No Mizuki, you know it's for-"

"I already know why they hate me." Naruto said surprising the two teachers.

"They hate me..." Naruto said before he activated his camouflage and blended in with the night "BECAUSE I'M A DEMON!" he roared as he stood in front of Mizuki with two large wings coming out of his back and his lizard appendages. His mouth was sporting an inhuman pair of fangs and pupils were slitted. Mizuki had the proper reaction that a coward who just saw a monster pop up in front of him and fainted.

"Well that was easy enough." the blond commented while reverting back to his human form and picking up the scroll.

When Naruto turned back to go to the village he saw a gawking Chuunin staring at him.

"I guess I got a little bit of explaining to do huh, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto said with a nervous smile.

Naruto and Iruka went back to the Hokage's office and returned the scroll. The Naruto and Sarutobi told Iruka about what happened to him while he was kidnapped. Needless to say, Iruka felt nothing but the deepest regret for the boy and only grew to respect him more.

After he was done at the Hokage tower Naruto retired to his apartment and fell immediately into sleep. His dreaming was interrupted when he found himself lying inside of a sewer. This sewer was somewhere very familiar to Naruto. It was his subconscious, a place where he would retreat to if he passed out from pain during the experiments done to him.

This time however, there was something different about the place. Every couple of seconds a small vibration went through the floor. When Naruto looked down he saw small red waves flowing from down the hall. Curious, Naruto followed the waves to their source to see a large cage. Standing behind the cage were two huge red eyes, and impressive set of teeth. All of this was connected to a large fox with nine tails.

**"****It's nice to finally meet you face-to-face brat" **the demon said.

"You've gotta a lot of nerves to call me down to your little cesspool. Tell me, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Naruto said with a fake smile that dripped with malice.

**"Now now, I didn't call you here to start trouble. I called so I could help you with your little snake problem. I know what you can give Manda that he will enjoy more than humans." **Kyuubi said causing the boy to raise and eye brow skeptically.

"First of all, why should I even trust you? Second of all, how would you know what Manda would want?" Naruto scoffed causing the beast to chuckle.

**"****Do you know how this seal works boy? Probably not, I guess I'll have to explain. You see, the lie that your village tells to its children isn't completely untrue. That bastard father of yours did manage to kill me or a part of me anyway. ****For now, let's divide a typical being into three parts. You have the person's physical state, their mental state, and their spiritual state. The Yodaime's seal managed to destroy my physical state and seal my mental and spiritual state into you. When this happened my spiritual state and mental state connected with you. So if you wanted to you could use my chakra and gain my wisdom." **At the word "wisdom" Naruto rolled his eyes.

**"****I on the other hand, get the ability to hear, touch, taste, see, and smell all that you do. This is where I gain a reason to help you. If I help you I get the ability to help destroy the second person who has ever made me feel such intense pain. I would be forever dishonored if I didn't help you kill Orochimaru." **Kyuubi said angrily.

"All right, so if I trust you, which I don't, how are you going to help me summon Manda?" Naruto asked causing the beast to chuckle.

**"Allow me to explain."**

* * *

The Next Day

Naruto and Sarutobi stood in the field in which Naruto had summoned Manda two days earlier.

"Are you ready old man?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Yes Naruto, I hope you know what you're doing?" the old man asked with a frown.

"Don't worry old man. As long as your seal works this will go fine." pounding his fists together the blond went throug the required hand seals, bit his thumb, and slammed his hand to the ground."Summoning Jutsu!". After the smoke had cleared the familiar large purple serpent was staring down at him with killing intent.

"I'm guessing that this old man isn't part of my sacrifice. As a matter of fact, I don't see anyone else here. So why, may I ask, have you called me here to devour your pitiful self?" Manda asked as he narrowed his eyes at the blond summoner.

"Relax Hebi-teme, I called you here to offer you a deal. I have something that I think you'll like more than a snack. If you like this sacrifice then you'll let me summon you without sacrifices in the future. If you don't like it you can always eat me." Naruto said with confidants.

"Oh? And why shouldn't I eat you right now? I hardly believe you can offer me much outside of humans that will please me." the snake boss angerly hissed at him.

"Because I know you're curious. You want to know about this offer I'm making that you've probably never gotten before." Naruto retorted while staring into the eyes of the snake.

Manda seemed to study the boy's confidence for a while before sighing, "Alright Gaki, what do you have in mind?" the creature demanded causing the boy to smile.

"Okay, bring your head down to us and close your eyes." Naruto ordered the boss summon.

The snake looked at him skeptically before doing as he was told. Sarutobi then moved over to the snakes head and took out an ink brush. Slowly he made a very intricate seal on the creatures head. After he finished he turned to Naruto.

"Alright Naruto, now it's your turn." the old Kage said to him.

Nodding Naruto walked over to the snake while pulling up the right arm sleeve of his shirt to reveal the very same seal on his pre-teen put his right hand on top of Manda's head, and slowly red chakra made it way from Naruto's arm and over Manda's body.

When the process was done Naruto and Sarutobi looked at Manda in awe. His scales had gone from purple to a reddish orange and he had several blood red stripes going down his back. When he opened his eyes, they noticed that they looked exactly like Kyuubi's.

**"Boy, what is this...power? I feel invincible. Ten times greater than I was before." **Manda exclamed, his voice sounding deeper than usual, causing Naruto to smile.

"I thought you might like it. The old man used a seal to transfer some of Kyuubi's chakra to you. I gave you just enough to make you as strong as a one-tailed demon. So what do you say? Is this enough to make up for any sacrifices I might owe you later?" Naruto asked causing the snake to let out a long laugh.

**"This is worth more than a million sacrifices boy! I've never felt this good. The Snake Clan will soon be realized as the greatest of the summons thanks to you. As a matter of fact, summon me a few weeks later and I'll have a gift for you. Goodbye for now Naruto Uzumaki." **Manda said before disappearing in a plume of smoke.

"Well, that went good." Naruto said before walking off, and a relieved Hokage following him soon after.

Later that day Kakashi Hatake lazily made his way to the Hokage's office for a Jounin meeting. This meeting was to decide which Genin teams each Jounin would get. For the most part he didn't care about these teams. No team had ever managed to pass the one eyed Jounin's test. And he wasn't really expecting much out of this year's brats either.

Although, their were a couple of kids that caught his attention by name alone. Sasuke Uchiha was someone he was hoping to see pass. It was only natural that he would want to see the only relative of his past friend succeed. Unfortunately, Sasuke was probably going to be placed on his team and even if he managed to understand the test his team may drag him down with them.

Another person who caught his attention was Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto was someone who had given Kakashi some grief. It was hard seeing his sensei incarnate walking around town every day. It reminded him of his dead teacher which led to him remembering his dead teammate. Neither were things that he wanted to think about. One debate he had been having about the boy was how much Kyuubi had influenced him. Kakashi trusted his sensei's skill, but Kyuubi was a little much to follow blindly. He didn't hate the boy like most villagers, but that didn't mean he necessarily trusted him. Overall, he just avoided him. It wasn't like it was his job to watch over him, right?

As Kakashi entered the door to the Hokage's office he gained a massive evil eye from everyone in the room. "Sorry I'm late. There was a black cat tha-"

"We've already heard every excuse Kakashi. Besides, it's time we told you who you'll be teaching." the Hokage interrupted Kakashi's ridiculous excuse.

"I thought the entire group was supposed to discuss who-"

"You gave up your right to decide when you showed up two hours late Kakashi." a woman with crimson eyes and black hair said.

At this, a small drop of sweat made its way down the side of Kakashi's head. "I see, so who will I be teaching?" he asked.

"You will lead Team Seven, which consist of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakure Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki." the Hokage said causing the gray-haired man to wince slightly.

"If you don't mind me asking, why Naruto Uzumaki? Traditionally we put the top, middle, and lowest scorer on the same team. Uzumaki's grades were the fourth best in his class." Kakashi said in an effort to pass the Jinchuuriki off to someone else.

"True, but the worst score of this year's class was Shikamaru Nara. His skills work best with the Yamanaka and Akimichi Clans so we put him on a team with them under Asuma. Even now, we have doubts about his _lack _of skills." Sarutobi commented clearly remembering his experience this afternoon.

"Aren't there any other teams that would suit him better?" Kakashi asked with a hint of desperation in his voice.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, but your team is the one that will suit him best. Naruto will provide a nice challenge for Sasuke, and he might be able to set a good example for Sakura and help her take the shinobi life a little more seriously. These teams are final and the meeting is over. You are all dismissed, except for you Kakashi."

After everyone had left Sarutobi held out a small journal to Kakashi. "I have something that you'll need to know when you start teaching Naruto." the aged Hokage said. Kakashi took out the book and started to read.

_'This ought to be good.'_


	4. Genin Exam, Gift from the Snakes

I don't own Naruto.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

Naruto slowly made is way to the academy to be assigned his Genin team. Over the last week Naruto had been training exceptionally hard. The reason? Anko had informed him of not only who his teacher would be, but what his first job as his teacher would be.

Naruto was to be under the command of Kakashi Hatake. He had heard a little about the man. He was said to have somehow gained the bloodline of the Uchiha Clan. It was said that through their ability he was able to copy over a thousand techniques. Plus he was surprised to find out that his father was Kakashi's sensei. Perhaps he could get the man to tell him what his father was like.

When Naruto arrived at the academy he took a seat next to Sasuke. The class genius grunted at Naruto who stayed silent. It was no secret that Naruto didn't like Sasuke. It was mainly started by the way Sasuke used to treat Ino. One day during recess he rejected her so harshly that it caused her to cry. Everyone on the school grounds felt a massive wave of killing intent. By the time the other kids turned to see what was going they saw Naruto being held back by a couple of teachers while Sasuke was on the ground with a black eye forming.

Most people would think that Naruto would be in danger thanks to Sasuke's fangirls, and the villagers who would be angry at him for sucker punching the last Uchiha, but he didn't really need to worry about them. Most girls were a bit wary around Naruto. The old Naruto was an obnoxious goofball who they wouldn't feel bad or careful about hitting. This Naruto was darker, quiet unless he was surrounded by his friends, and trained hard. The fact that he was best friends with Shino who is one of the most terrifying kids in class helped as well. Most villagers wanted nothing to do with someone who had connections with the Aburame Clan

So the two held created mutual disliking of each other. Naruto was fine with this relationship. After all, Sasuke wasn't the warmest person in the academy, and there wasn't much to win or lose by being on his good side in his eyes.

Sasuke on the other hand, wanted nothing more then to beat Naruto into the ground. In that one punch he did more to Sasuke than anyone had to him minus his brother. He took away his pride. In one punch he embarrassed him in front of the entire class. The fact that the teachers went to grab the boy made it look like Sasuke couldn't beat him by himself which was something he refused to believe.

But because he was above fighting with a lowly commoner, so he would wait until the time was right.

A few minutes later one Sakura Haruno made her way into class she immediately ran down the rows toward Sasuke, and put her arm on Naruto getting ready to shove him out of his seat. She was surprised of course when she realized who was in that seat and the massive killing intent he released. Even though it was a reflexive thing and Naruto immediately stopped once he realized it was Sakura it was enough to stop the girl in her tracks.

"U-um s-sorry t-t-o bother y-you Naruto. M-may I please have t-this s-seat?" Sakura managed to stutter out.

Naruto sighed before silently getting out of his seat and moving up a row, and sitting next to the ever blushing Hinata.

A few minutes later Iruka made his way into the class room.

"All right class I won't bore you today. Because I'll be placing you graduates on your Genin teams. Team One..." Naruto for one honestly didn't care who the other team were, he just ignored his former sensei until he heard his name. "Team Seven will consist of Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka said gaining the blonds attention.

"Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. Your team leader will be Kakashi Hatake. Team Eight will consist of Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Your team leader will be Kurenai Yuuhi. Team Nine is still active from last year. Team Ten will consist of Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Chouji Akimichi. Your team leader will be Asuma Sarutobi. You'll meet your new sensei after lunch." Iruka said to his once-students.

As the students made their way out of the class three students went a little slower than the others. Naruto, Ino, and Shino were all quietly brooding about the teams they got. Well...at least two of them were silent.

"THESE TEAMS SUCK! How could I get stuck with those slackers! They'll probably just spend all their time sleeping and eating!" Ino angrily shouted in frustration.

"I hoped that at least two of us would be on the same team. I didn't even get placed with Hinata." Naruto grumbled.

"They place us on these teams because of our abilities. Even though I would prefer to work with someone less brash then Kiba. Hinata, and my own abilities make us perfect for a tracking team. Ino, your family has shown itself to be most compatible with Nara and Akimichi techniques." Shino said in the common sense all Aburame's seemed to posess.

"What about my team? The teachers don't know my abilities that well, and even if they did nothing about them suggest that I should be placed with an Uchiha and an average student. Besides, aren't they supposed to place the best student with the worse?" Naruto asked.

"That's true, but they probably felt that Shikamaru would work better with Ino and Chouji. You were most likely given your place by process of elimination." Shino replied.

"Well however they did this crap it still sucks. I can't talk with those idiots. Why couldn't one of you be on my team? Hell, even Shino talks more than those two considering all they do is eat and sleep." Ino continued to complain.

"I know it sucks, but it's not like we won't see each other anymore. We can still hang out." Naruto replied with a small hopeful smile.

"True, but between our missions and training our time will be severely limited." Shino commented causing Naruto to drop his head.

_'Shino doesn't know the definition of 'lightening the mood' does he?' _he thought to himself.

After lunch the Genin made their way back into the classroom to wait for their teachers. After a while almost all of the teachers had come to pick up their students leaving Team Seven by themselves in the class room. Almost two hours later Sakura finally got tired of waiting.

"Where is this guy? What kind of Jounin is this late for an appointment? This is highly unprofessional!" she screamed out in frustration.

"You might as well get comfortable Sakura. Our sensei is notorious for being late. We could be here for another hour before he shows up." Naruto replied while playing with a kunai between his fingers.

"You know this guy Uzumaki?" Sasuke demanded.

"I do, but I don't really have to tell you anything." the blond casually replied angering the Uchiha.

Before Sasuke could move the three Genin heard the door to the room slide open. Standing in the doorway was a man in standard Ninja attire with grey hair. He wore a blue mask over the lower half of his face and his hitai-ate covering his left eye.

"Sorry I'm late. There was-" the man's words were cut off when a kunai landed in the wall next to him.

"It's alright, as long as it doesn't happen again." was Naruto cold response.

"Aaaaalrighty then, meet me up on the roof." the man said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke and a small explosion.

Sasuke and Sakura made their way out of the room they heard the same small explosion and turned to see a cloud of smoke where Naruto used to be.

Kakashi was surprised, proud, and a bit disappointed to see Naruto appear on the roof. He would have preferred to use the time it would take them to go up the stairs and to pick himself together. After all, it's not everyday that you have to face the nephew of your dead, and the child of your teacher. What he had read about Naruto in the journal was almost enough to make him throw up.

He was concerned of course when the boy just disappeared for three years, but when the Hokage was quiet about the matter he figured that the boy was in good health. When he heard what the boy had been through he went home and tried to kill himself in regret. He decided to slit his wrist so he could feel pain as he passed on. The only reason his attempted suicide failed was because the Hokage predicted it and sent a couple of Anbu that once woked with the Copycat ninja to watch over Kakashi.

While Kakashi was recovering in the hospital the Hokage came to talk some sense into the man. By the time he was done Kakashi had to admit that the old man was right. Killing himself would do nothing to correct his past negligence, and that the only way he could hope to make up for his past sins was to help Naruto and Sasuke grow into powerful shinobi. He accepted this, but that didn't make it any easier to look at the boy. So the two sat in silence while Kakashi did everything he could to keep from making direct eye contact with the mini Yondaime. He was doing a good job of it until Naruto decided to speak.

"Hatake-san?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi winced slightly at the sound of his name but, it was almost unnoticeable. "Yes?" he asked calmly.

"You know who my father is, don't you?"

The man was silent for a minute before he responded, "Yes"

"I see...do you think you could tell me about him?" Naruto asked surprising the man.

Before he could respond Sakura and Sasuke made their way onto the roof.

"Okay then, now that we're all here why don't we introduce ourselves. Why don't you go first pinkie." Kakashi pointed at the exhausted Sakura.

"Why don't you go first sensei? You know, to show us how it's done." Sakura asked in reply.

"Well let's see. My name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes and dislikes are none of your concern. My dream for the future...well I have lots of hobbies. Now it's your turn pinky." Kakashi said as the students each had a drop of sweat going down the side of their heads.

_'All we learned was his name.' _they thought.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like..." she looked towards Sasuke and blushed. "My dream for the future..." she looked towards Sasuke again and blushed even deeper, and sligltly squeeled. "I don't have any serious dislikes but, I do like it when people show up _on time._" she finished but the Jounin brushed it off.

"How about you Mr. Sunshine." Kakashi said while pointing to Sasuke who simply grunted.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are few things that I like and to many things I dislike to mention. My dream, no my ambition is to kill a certain man." Sasuke said, making sure it was short, sweet, and simple.

"Alright then how about you Naruto." Kakashi said.

"Everyone here already knows my name, but I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, hanging out with my friends, and my big sister Anko. My dislikes are snakes, doctors, anything that has to do with medical facilities, and people who use others without caring about them to achieve their goals. Like Sasuke, I can't really call what I plan to do a dream because that would imply that it would be some goal that would bring me the greatest happiness possible. So my ambition is to kill a couple of people who have deeply hurt me, my sister, and my friends." Naruto said while unconsciously leaking out waves of killing intent that shocked Sasuke and Sakura.

Sasuke had never heard of this grudge before, and started to wonder if the blond was just trying to one up him before the waves of killing intent came out. Who were these people who Naruto hated with such passion? Both of them had known of Naruto's three year hiatus. When anyone tried to ask him about it in the academy he would change the topic or just stop talking. They were also curious about how these people had hurt him and his friends. As far as they knew nobody had ever hurt Hinata, Shino, or Ino bad enough for Naruto to want to kill them.

_'__Well that's about what I expected from the two of them. All I can do is hope that they're not too far gone, and that Naruto's mother isn't counted in his revenge by death. Turning them into a team isn't going to be easy. I've seen some bad combinations before, but a boy obsessed kunoichi, two revenge obsessed shinobi one of which is a cross between a human, demon, and beast__, and a teacher who would go to hell and back to switch even one of his students with another kid has to take the cake.' _Kakashi grimly thought.

"Okay, now that we all know each other a little bit better. I'm going to tell you about your first assignment. You'll be taking a survival test." the one-eyed shinobi said to his new squad.

"But we've already taken survival test in the academy sensei." Sakura piped out.

"Ah, but this is a special test. You see, out of the twenty-seven Genin that graduated only nine of you will actually go on to become full fledged shinobi. The rest will be sent back to the academy or taken out of the program all together. That means that all of you a have a one in three odds of passing." Kakashi said to the Genin's shock. "Meet me at training ground seven by eight A.M. tomorrow. You and I can talk after the exam Naruto. Oh, and one more thing. Don't bother eating breakfast tomorrow. You'll just throw it back up." he eye-smiled said before disappearing.

* * *

The Next Day

The next day team seven made their way to the training grounds. Naruto was surprised to see their teacher only half an hour late. Kakashi didn't know why he was compelled to come early, by his standards at least. Perhaps it was his ever growing guilt or maybe it was Naruto's implied threat from the other day.

"Alright team your test today is a simple combat exercise. I have two bells with me. Your goal is to take one of these bells from me. Whoever fails to get a bell will be tied to one of the post you see and they will not receive lunch. Also, that person will be sent back to the academy." Kakashi said shocking the three Genin. "Of course there's always the chance that none of you will get a bell and you'll all get tie to the post. Now let's begin, shall we? You have until noon to get a bell. I suggest you come at me with the intent to kill. Alright, ready? GO!" he shouted as the Genin went into motion.

_'Hmm, those two have hidden well, but this one...' _Kakashi thought as he looked towards Naruto who had simply jumped back from the man.

"You're a little off, aren't you?" Kakashi asked.

"What's the point in hiding? I know who you are Kakashi-sensei. By current standards your tie with Gai Maito for the third strongest shinobi in Konoha. Trying to hide from you even with my abilities is most likely impossible." Naruto said.

"I see. So tell me, knowing my ranking and the fact that you can't hide, exactly how do you plan to get a bell from me. Surely you don't plan on a full frontal assault." Kakashi remarked.

"What other choice do I have? As we've already said it would do no good to launch a sneak attack on an Anbu level shinobi as yourself, and my skills at traps are no where near good enough to catch someone with your experience. My only hope is that I can do something so unique that I'll be able to grab a bell, and use a technique that you haven't seen with that fancy eye of yours." the blond smirked.

"Earth style: Hand of Judgment!" he shouted as he slammed his hands on the ground. Quickly a large hand made of stone almost three times Kakashi's size appeared behind him and slammed on top of him bringing up a large cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared Naruto could see the hand on top of what looked to be the splintered remains of a log.

"I'm afraid you'll need to be faster than that Naruto although I'll admit it was a good try." Kakashi said from behind the boy.

"Then how about this? Earth style: Stone Dragon Assault!" Naruto shouted. Suddenly several stone dragons came from the ground and snaked their way towards the silver haired Jounin causing him to jump in the air. "Grand Dragon of the mountain!" he continued.

Kakashi was surprised as a shadow grew over him and he turned to see a dragon twenty times bigger than the others bearing down on him quickly. Before he could react the creature had slammed its head into the ground and swallowed him in the process.

Sasuke and Sakura sat in awe. They both knew Naruto was an above average student, but this was a little much. He just used three different techniques each of which had to be at least C to B rank and he barely seemed winded. Sasuke knew he would have been exhausted by now and Sakura probably would be bedridden for a couple of days. Just how strong was Naruto? This power greatly angered Sasuke who always thought of Naruto as inferior to him. It was true that Sasuke's ninjutsu skills were easily above what was expected of a fresh graduate of the academy, but Naruto's skill in Earth Style techniques made him feel like it was his first year in the academy again.

Meanwhile Kakashi was sitting in the stomach of the great stone beast contemplating his next move.

_'I didn't expect anything like this. I've never seen Orochimaru or Anko use these moves so either Orochimaru learned these after he defected from Konoha or Naruto created those techniques himself. Anko did say that he dabbled in weapon creation. I guess she forgot to mention the techniques he created. Sensei would be proud.' _Kakashi happly thought. _'The problem is that if I keep just dodging his attacks he'll think he actually stands a chance by himself. Hell, if he could use his beast forms he probably would stand a chance while I'm holding back like this. I have to do something just flashy enough to help him get the point, but not strong enough to scare him and the others away from trying. I think I have just the thing.'_

Meanwhile outside of the dragon Naruto made his way towards his own creation with the hopes securing a bell when a strange chirping sound came from the stone dragon. Suddenly, a hand covered in lightning ran down the body of the dragon and into the ground in front of him causing the creature to spilt in half and a large explosion of dust to fill the area. When the dust finally began to settle Kakashi stood in front of Naruto with his nose in a small orange book.

"That was a decent try. You almost caught me with that one. I wonder what else you have up your sleeve? Care to show me?" Kakashi asked a startled Naruto.

"Not much just this!" Naruto yelled as he slammed some smoke bombs into the ground. As the smoke enveloped the Jounin he heard another technique come from the boy's mouth, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Kakashi continued to read his book as two Naruto clones came through the smoke and started to punch at him. Kakashi dodged all of their blows before jumping back and throwing two shuriken at the clones that dispelled them upon impact. When all the smoke was gone Naruto was nowhere to be found.

_'Alright Naruto let's see if you can figure this out.'_

Naruto sat in a tree a few yards away from the field thinking quietly. He went through every combination he could think of, but there was nothing that seemed like it might stand a good chance against Kakashi. He was sure he could get a couple of surprises out of the man, but the Jounin would just adapt to the situation and escape again. He just couldn't think of a way to beat the man.

And then it hit him. Why would he or any other Genin be expected to? Kakashi was a Jounin, hell if something happened to old man Sarutobi he might even become the next Hokage.

So why would a group of kids, fresh out of the academy be expected to be able to rob this man of a bell. Perhaps he was just supposed to show a certain level of skill, and the man would fake losing a bell? That thought was quickly squashed. If there was a limit he was sure that his attacks would have passed it. After all, what student in the academy could say that he had that level of skill in ninjutsu? It also seemed weird that they would place the students on teams before this test. There was no guarantee that an entire squad would pass. So what was the point of forming teams when they would simply have to be reformed later when one student was kicked out? That's when Naruto figured it out.

This exercise was about teamwork! No Genin could be expected to get a bell from a Jounin, but if three Genin got together they could easily form a plan and execute it in away that would give them the small window of opportunity needed to secure a bell.

The question was would his teammates believe him? He followed the smell of perfume to Sakura and muttered, "Follow me if you want to pass." before moving on to find Sasuke.

When he had found the raven-haired boy he began to tell his team about his discovery. They were a bit skeptical to say the least.

"Idiot, if we have to work together then why are there only two bells. One of us still would end up failing."

"Sasuke-kun is right it makes no sense. What ever, we did one of us would still fail." they argued.

"It's supposed to split us up. If it wasn't for the two bells it would be painfully obvious that we could simply work together to achieve are goal. It would be no challenge." Naruto said.

"I don't know Naruto. How do we know that you're not just using us to get a bell?" Sakura asked causing the blond to sigh.

"Look this is what we do. We formulate a plan that will have one of you grabbing the bells. That way if I'm wrong you two will be the ones with the bells. Deal?" Naruto responded.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other before looking back towards Naruto, "Deal."

"Alright now this is what we'll do."

Meanwhile Kakashi sat on his back in the middle of the torn up battle field reading his book. He was beginning to get worried. His new students only had a half an hour left to complete the exercise, and he hadn't heard from even one of them. He really hoped he wouldn't have to send them back to the academy. He knew it would be for their own good, but it would still make him fell like he let his team down. Maybe he would move and at least flush them out of hiding.

As he got up of the ground he saw Naruto and Sasuke standing on the other side of the field. Perhaps there was hope for this team yet.

"Oh, what do we have here? Don't tell me you two plan to work together." Kakashi asked in a skepital tone.

"I may not like Uzumaki, but even we can put aside are differences to become ninja." Sasuke retorted.

"Aww isn't that heart warming." Kakashi pretended to feel overjoyed causing both of the Genin to glare angrily at the man.

"No, but I bet this warms something." Naruto shouted as he shot two kunai at the ground in front of the teacher. Kakashi looked down to see a burning note on each kunai. He immediately jumped away as the burning notes exploded.

Out of the smoke from the explosion came a slightly larger stone hand that raced towards Kakashi. "Honestly Naruto, that trick is becoming old." the Copycat ninja said as he stretched out his hand. He stopped the advancement of the stone hand with his own arm. Kakashi was surprised when part of the stone arm fell off to reveal the face of Sasuke Uchiha.

"Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted as large stream of fire made its way from the boy's mouth.

Kakashi jumped back to what he believed to be a safe distance, but was force to jump high into the air when another call pierced the air.

"Wind Style: Roar of the Wind!" Naruto shouted as a large stream of wind came from the boy's mouth. The wind combined with Sasuke's fireball to create a raging inferno that Kakashi was just able to escape from.

It was at that moment when Kakashi had his attention completely devoted to the two boys in front of him that Sakura shot a single shuriken from the trees which cut the rope cord with the bells on it. Before Kakashi could react the bells fell into the hands of both Naruto and Sasuke.

"Looks like we got the bells Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke said with a smirk.

Kakashi had to fight to repress a smile, "I see then who is going back to the academy Sasuke?"

"Nobody." Naruto replied.

"This test wasn't about getting the bells. It was made to show that we have the basic skills and problem solving to become shinobi. It was all a matter of teamwork." Sakura said as she made her way out of the trees.

"I see. I'm glad you figured it out. Remember, a ninja who disobeys the rules is trash, but a ninja who abandons his teammates is worse than trash. Team seven will start its first meetings and missions tomorrow so I suggest you all go home and get a good nights sleep."

* * *

The Forest of Death

Naruto stood in a large field preparing to summon Manda. It had been exactly one week since he had last spoke with the giant snake. He was curious about what the creature had to offer. As long as it didn't require any sacrifices he was more than willing to except the gift.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he slammed his hand into the ground. After the cloud of smoke disappeared Naruto looked up towards the giant orange and red snake. He was surprised to see a much smaller purple snake on Manda's forehead.

"Greetings, Lord Manda, Bushou." Naruto greeted the two.

**"Hello Naruto, are you ready to receive your gift for giving me this power?" **Manda asked as he lowered his head down to the boy.

Slowly Bushou made his way off of his father's head to the irritation of both Naruto and Manda.

**"Hurry up boy, we don't have all day." **Manda commanded.

"Relax old man, the kid ain't going anywhere." Bushou yawned lazily.

Eventually the snake made its way off of its fathers head and started to coil up Naruto's leg towards the base of his neck. "This is going to hurt a bit." the snake said causing Naruto to give it a curious glance.

"What's going to-" Naruto was interrupted as the snake slammed its fangs into the blonds neck. Pain rattled through his very being causing him to cry out in pain. A few minutes later the pain started to subside and Naruto glared evilly at the small purple serpent.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR BASTARD?" Naruto yelled at the snake which closed its eyes in pain.

"Stop shouting it's too troublesome. Besides, the only way to fuse with our clan is to have our venom in you veins." Busho replied causing Naruto to pale considerably.

"Now when you say "venom" you don't mean kill/paralyzing prey "venom" right?" he asked, nearly paralized with fear.

**"Relax child, I should explain. You see, even though most summon clans are generally categorized by species of animals summon clans are divided into one more group. We are divided into branches much like the Hyuuga Clan of Konoha. My son and I both belong to the main branch. From the main branch comes the snakes that will grow to my size and take over as the summon boss when I pass on. We also have another ability. Aside from the killing poisons that most snakes have we also have what is called as bond venom. This venom doesn't actually hurt a person, but represents them as an honorary member of the Snake Clan**.**"** Manda reassured the boy, causing him to calm down.

"I see, thank you Lord Manda." Naruto thanked the massive serpent.

**"This also comes with one more benefit boy. Perform the seals for the Transformation Jutsu, and let my son take care of the rest."**

Naruto looked at the snake curiously, but did as he was told. "Transformation Jutsu!" Bushou said as Naruto and the snake were covered in a plume of smoke. When the smoke disappeared Naruto noticed rather quickly that his right arm had been replaced with a purple scaled snake.

"Whats this? How come I couldn't just do a normal transformation for this?" Naruto asked.

_'Because this is much more than a simple transformation Naruto.' _the blond heard a voice in his head say. This voice sounded exactly like the voice of the snake which had just become his right arm.

"How did you do that?"

_'The technique I used allows us to actually link our minds thanks to the venom than runs through you. It has more abilities, but it's too much of a drag to go over them all right now.' _the snake said mentally. "Release!" the snake shouted as the transformation technique was broken.

**"****Now that that's done there is one more thing I have for you. I want you to perform the Summoning Jutsu one more time. This time use about a tenth of the chakra you would use to summon me." **Manda said to the summoner he was actually starting to like.

Naruto did as he was told and in a plum of smoke a snake about four times his size stood next to him coiled up words. Its scales were silver and reflected the sun like metal. Lying on top of it was a snake of the same color with gold eyes which quickly moved towards Bushou. Surprisingly, Bushou moved quickly as well.

"BUSHOU-KUN!" the snake squealed in a voice that Naruto only heard from girls chasing Sasuke.

"Ahhh! Seitetsu, What are you doing here?" Bushou shouted as he slithered away from the snake.

"I came to see you Bushou-kun! Aren't you happy to see me?"

"NO!"

**"Naruto, meet Seitetsu and his daughter Tetsuhime."** Manda introduced the junchuriki vessel to the two new arrivals.

"Nice to meet you Seitetsu-san. I think I like you and your kid already." Naruto grinned as he watched Bushou be stalked down by the silver serpent with small hearts floating above her head.

**"****Seitetsu is the leader of the steel branch of the Snake Clan. They are mostly used for defense, but they are also sword smiths. They created the blade Kusanagi **(Grass Cutter) **that Orochimaru wields. I would have given you that sword, but considering that you have upgraded my strength I have decided to give you a better weapon." **Manda said as Seitetsu uncoiled her body to reveal a large sword.

It was about five feet long and little under two feet wide. The handle was black and it had a serpent head coming out of the base. On the blade was a carving of a snake.

"This sword is called Hebidoshi (Year of the snake). It has the ability to take the mind of a member of our clan and turn the blade into a living weapon. Allow me to show you how. Tetsuhime!" Seitestu hollered at his daughter.

The silver snake hid cornered Bushou against a tree. "I have you now Bushou-kun!" Tetsuhime hissed in glee as she started to coil around the defenseless snake. While she was coiling up the poor purple snake her fathers voice called to her.

"I'll be back later Bushou-kun." Tetsuhime said seductively before crawling away.

"Right and I won't be here when you get back." Bushou said as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

When Tetsuhime made it back to the group and turned to Naruto.

**"I want you to perform the seals for the Summoning Jutsu and add these seals. Snake, tiger, dragon, and snake, focus on summoning Tetsuhime." **Manda ordered.

Naruto did as he was told. Putting his hands together he did the required seals for the summoning jutsu, and added the four other ones "Summoning Jutsu: Tetsuhime!" Naruto shouted as he slammed his hand onto the blade. Tetsuhime eyes closed and she looked as if she had fallen asleep.

Suddenly the eyes of the snake head on Hebidoshi turned gold and the carved snake on the blade started to glow silver.

"This feels sort of weird." Tetsuhime said through the snake head on the hilt.

"Whoa, cool!" Naruto shouted in awe.

"That's not all it can do. Put some chakra into it and swing." Seitetsu ordered.

Naruto did as he was told and as he swung the blade it broke into segments connected by wire. The segments twisted and curved like a snake and when he withdrew his chakra it came back together.

"Wow, thanks Seitetsu-san. This is the coolest sword I've ever seen." Naruto thanked the leader of the steel branch causing the old snake to chuckle.

"Do not thank me Naruto, I only create what Lord Manda asks me to. I believe it is time for us to leave Tetsuhime." Seitetsu replied as Tetsuhime disappeared in a cloud of smoke Naruto watched as the blade turned back to normal and the body of Tetsuhime came back to life.

"See you later Naruto-san. If you could, do you think you could summon me and Bushou-kun at the same time again?" the smaller silver snake asked causing Naruto to grin.

"It would be my pleasure." Naruto said with a genuine smile seeing them disappear in a cloud of smoke.

"**I suggest you get to know the different clans better. By using members of different clan as the power for Hebidoshi, to combine with, or to just use their normal forms you'll find yourself with a wide arsenal of abilities. Until we meet again, Naruto Uzumaki." **Manda bade the Genin farewell before disappearing in a large cloud of smoke.

Naruto stood there with one hand on the giant sword. It was a bit hard to wield, but with a couple of weeks of practice he would get use to it.

_'You know, snakes aren't really all that bad.' _he happily thought to himself.


	5. Unleashing the Beast

I don't own Naruto.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki was mad. It didn't take a genius to know he was mad, just someone who has the ability to judge moods. Most of the people he knew had sensed this, and given him a little space, except for Anko and Ino who would do whatever they wanted to him and dare him to say something about it.

The reason he was mad had to do with his ninja career or lack there of. You see, when Naruto became a ninja he expected to go on missions that would help him gain the experience that he would need to take care of the people on his hit list.

The missions he had been doing however couldn't train him to be much more than a handyman. These weren't the things he had been taught to do in the academy. These missions consisted of doing simple work that just about any person their age could do. The first mission team seven completed was painting a house. If he wanted to do chores he could have done those at home. So the blond demon container stood in the office of the Sandaime Hokage with a look of determination on his face. With their latest mission to retrieve the cat of the Daimyo's wife Naruto had finally reached the limit of what they could bare.

"Lord Hokage." Naruto greeted as Team Seven was about to be assigned their next mission.

"Yes Naruto?" Sarutobi replied, knowing that whatever the boy wanted had to be important if he didn't refer to him as old man.

"I believe that my team is ready for a more advanced mission. Is it possible for us to receive a C-rank assignment?" Naruto asked causing all eyes in the room to be drawn to him.

_'I should have known this would happen sooner or later. To be honest, I would have thought that it would be Sasuke who asked for the mission.' _Kakashi thought to himself.

"Naruto, the missions you have taken are very important. They are chosen for Genin to develop basic skills and learn to work as a team. They are an important stage in the development of a shinobi." Sarutobi responded.

"That is true, but this team is more than prepared for a simple C-ranked mission. Kakashi is probably the strongest Jounin in Konoha, Sakura had the highest written scores in the academy and has been improving physically as well, Sasuke was rookie of the year, and you already know about my abilities. I believe this team is prepared." Naruto stated calmly.

Everyone looked on at the Hokage as he seemed to be deep in thought. After staring at team seven for a minute he finally spoke.

"Do the rest of you feel that you're up to the task?" Sarutobi asked just to receive nods from the Genin team.

"Very well, you are in luck. We have one C-rank mission left for today. Iruka, would you call in the client?" the Hokage said.

A few seconds later the doors to the office opened and team seven saw an old man leaning against the door frame. The man wore a large straw hat and his face sported a grey beard. He wore a sleeveless brown shirt and grungy tan pants. He held a Sake bottle in his hands and if the look on his face and smell were any indication he had already taken a couple of swigs from it.

"What's this? This is the team of ninja that supposed to protect me? They're a bunch a brats!" the old man slurred out.

"I assure you that I and my Genin will be able to handle any trouble that we'll face." Kakashi responded calmly.

"Feh, whatever. My name is Tazuna the bridge builder and until I reach my home it's your job to protect me with your life."

* * *

Later That Day

"Come out, come out wherever you are Naruto-niichan!"

Said blond was currently hiding behind a small tree in the forest of death. He had his camouflage activated but that only helped so much with his current pursuer. You see it was an everyday routine to play a game of hide and go kill in the forest with Anko. If he was caught earlier than Anko felt was right, which was most of the time, Naruto would be forced to do Anko's favorite chakra control exercise. This lovely little exercise consisted of focusing chakra to every point on your back so you could lie on a bed of kunai unharmed.

Needless to say Naruto did his best to meet Anko's expectations.

So the chimera considered his options. He could always fight back. Although such tactics didn't always work they occasionally allowed him to spread some distance between him, and his plum haired assailant.

He could try the Transformation Jutsu, but that had only helped once. He was able to copy the appearance of some guy Anko had a crush on at the time and she was caught off guard long enough for him to escape. The next time he decided to use it didn't go as well. Apparently when Anko had asked the guy out he was already taken by another woman, so instead of dealing with an infatuated Anko he had brought upon the wrath of an upset Anko.

He could try to use his animal forms to escape to the sky or underground, but that was possibly his worst option. If he got knocked out of the air it was a long fall towards the forest floor, and if Anko found the hole he used to enter the ground she could simply follow him in.

While he was pondering his options, he almost didn't notice that several large pythons had come from the opposite side of the tree. And were now crossing sides and coming back in his direction. With a small yip, he jumped over the on coming serpents as they wrapped themselves around the trunk of the tree with such power that they broke through it.

As the tree came falling towards the forest floor Naruto managed to sprout his wings and fly away as a large could of dust was knocked up. Because of that cloud he was unaware of Anko's movements. So it was only when the cry of, "Fire style: Dragon Flamethrower!" that he was aware that a giant stream of fire was currently soaring towards him.

He narrowly dodged the inferno only to fly into a stone wall which he could have sworn wasn't there a second ago. Although the collision only stunned the blond it gave Anko enough time to shoot another group of snakes from her sleeves and wrap them around his legs. The kunoichi pulled with strength that wouldn't be expected from someone with such a figure and brought the boy plummeting towards the ground.

Before the blond could even register his pain from the fall he felt the cold sting of metal near his throat.

"And you're dead." Anko stated calmly.

"Was my time good enough?"

"You only lasted half an hour this time. It's obvious that you're distracted by something. I just hope you won't be too distracted to complete you chakra control exercise." she said disapprovingly.

"Do you think we could skip the exercise this time? I have a mission tomorrow and I sorta need to be in healthy shape." Naruto asked only to have Anko blow it off.

"Please. I could beat the crap out of you for an hour and you'd still be able to complete your little D-ranked missions."

"But that's just it. I don't have a D-rank mission tomorrow. I have a C-rank. We got assigned to protect some old geezer while he makes his way back to Wave Country." the blond retorted causing Anko to widen her eyes slightly.

"How did you get a C-rank so early? I didn't even get one till my third month as a Genin!" Anko said clearly shocked.

"My team is good. I'm good. It was only a matter of time for someone with such a good teacher." Naruto said with a smile.

"Myrodftu" Anko mumbled causing Naruto to stare at her oddly.

"What did you say?"

"Rimeprodfu." she reluctanly mumbled again.

"Are you trying to say that you're proud of me?" Naruto asked only to be greeted by a silence that caused him to grin. "Aww is big bad Anko-neesan afraid to express her feelings? I honestly expected you to be braver."

Never being one to back away from a challenge, Anko returned the grin with an even larger on as she wrapped her arms around the blond. and pulled him closer.

"I'm so proud of my little Naru-chan for getting his first real mission! You've just been growing up so fast!" Anko said sweetly as she shook left and right while holding the blond.

Said boy was currently having a bit of a problem. Most guys would be more than happy to trade places with Naruto at the moment. After all, how many guys could brag about being between the mounds of a woman who was voted second hottest kunoichi in Konoha? The only problem was that he looked at said woman as a sister and he wasn't exactly having the most pure thoughts at a moment. The fact that there was no air there didn't exactly help either.

"I can't breathe." Naruto mumbled causing the Kunoichi to let him go.

When Anko saw the flushed look on Naruto's face she decided to tease him a bit more. "Oh? What's with that look Naru-chan. Having dirty thoughts about your big sister?" she seductively whispered into his ear.

Now he was at a crossroads. He felt himself getting close to pulling a Hinata after Anko's last statement and his face was blood red. He could either quit this now and except his defeat or he could go for one last shot at the plum-haired Kunoichi.

Naruto Uzumaki never did know when it was time to quit.

"I think you're kidding yourself Anko-niichan. It has been a while since you've had a boyfriend. Maybe you're just trying to seduce me to get rid of your loneliness you pedophile."

WHAM!

When Naruto could finally move again he went to nurse his aching cheek which was currently sporting a sandal shaped mark.

"Anyway, I guess you can skip your exercise for today. It's a long trip to Wave Country when going with a civilian so you probably need to pack for maybe five days outside of the village. Good luck Naruto-niichan." Anko said as she walked away from the blond.

If Naruto hadn't been so busy nursing his cheek he might have noticed the red tint that had come to the kunoichi's face.

* * *

The Next Day

Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna waited at the gates of Konoha for the two remaining members of team seven. After about ten minutes they could see the form of a blond in a green camo trench coat, black shirt, with gray camo pants, black fingerless gloves, and he wore his hitai-ate proudly on his forehead. This was odd to the two ninja as Naruto was never late for a mission. He was usually the one waiting for the rest of the team.

What they found even stranger was what Naruto carried on his back. Naruto lacked the bags that everyone else was using to carry their supplies, and in its place was a rather large sword. The blade went from a bit over Naruto's head to just above his ankle and the blade was two feet wide. The blade was made of bright silver metal and had a serpent carved onto the sides. The handle was obsidian black except for the silver snake head that looked incredibly realistic.

"Whoa Naruto, where did you get that sword?" Sakura asked in awe.

Sasuke on the other hand simply scoffed at the blond. "Idiot, are you trying to get yourself killed? That blade is way too big for you to use, and even if you could wield it you just got it. You wouldn't actually be able to use it in real battle anyway." the Uchiha said.

"This blade is called Hebidoshi. I got it as a gift from a friend of mine." Naruto said while looking at Sakura before turning to the Uchiha. "As for you, I've had this blade for a month now and although I might not be able to beat a real ninja with it..." he replied to the arrogant prick as he grabbed the handle of the blade. In a flash it was off of the blond's back and coming towards Sasuke who was just able to pull out two kunai and stop the swords advancement while slowly being pushed back.

"It is more than enough to handle some bandits and assholes." the blond chimera finished with a grin.

As he watched the two shinobi Tazuna had one thought on his mind. _'Maybe I did get my moneys worth.'_

Before the situation could escalate further a voice called from behind Naruto.

"Alright you two, that's enough."

They looked to see their sensei standing behind them with his nose in his favorite orange book.

"You're almost on time Kakashi-sensei, what's the occasion?" Naruto asked as he slung Hebidoshi on his back.

"Even I can come early occasionally. That's an impressive blade Naruto, but where are your supplies?" Kakashi asked causing Sasuke to grin.

"Couldn't even get prepared for a real mission Naruto?" the Uchiha asked in a cocky tone.

Naruto pulled a medium size scroll from his jacket, "I sealed everything away so it wouldn't interfere if there was trouble."

"Good thinking Naruto, alright team let's head out." Kakashi praised the blond before they left onto their first C-ranked mission.

* * *

On the Road to Wave Country

On their second day of travel Sakura asked a question that had been on her mind since they started yesterday.

"Tazuna-san, do they have ninja in Wave Country. Why couldn't you just hire a team from your home?"

Before Tazuna could respond Kakashi did for him. "Wave Country is one of several countries that don't have a shinobi village. Instead they depend on a nearby village like Kirigakure; The Village Hidden in the Mist for military aid."

"I was away on business so I had to rely on you Konoha shinobi to make sure that I get home safely." Tazuna said.

"Outside of Konoha there are four other major villages that are ruled by a Kage. The Village Hidden in the Sands is under the rule of the Kazekage, The Village Hidden in the Stones is under the rule of the Tsuchikage, The Village Hidden in the Clouds is under the rule of the Raikage, and The Village Hidden in the Mist is under the rule of the Mizukage. Although there are several other villages that refer to their leader as Kage only those four and the Hokage are recognized on the international scale as worthy of the title." Kakashi said to his Genin.

As they walked along Naruto's focus was not on the conversation, but on something that lay before them on the road. It was a puddle. A simple, average, everyday puddle. The only problem was that it didn't smell like a puddle to the blond's advanced senses. As a matter of fact it smelt like humans giving of chakra. Add that with the fact that it hadn't rained in a while and it was obvious that someone was using a technique that disguised there appearance.

Once they had passed the puddle Naruto looked back to see two men forming from out of the water. They each wore a black mask on their face and a hitai-ate with a scratch through the middle of the symbol. They each wore a large clawed gauntlet with a spiked chain connecting the two.

As they started to charge towards the group Naruto sprung into action. He quickly formed some hand seals and turned his back from the group. "Wind style: Roar of the Wind!" the blond shouted, before he released a large gust of wind from his mouth and alerted the rest of his team to the danger.

The blast of wind had sent the two assailants flying back until they landed ungracefully on their asses. Before they could get up Naruto took Hebidoshi off of his back, and channeled chakra through the blade. He swung vertically and the blade broke off into sections, and flew towards the attackers cutting the chain that connected them in half.

The assassins got back up and charged towards the group again at an even faster pace. Before Naruto could move Kakashi appeared in front of the two and clotheslined them successfully stopping their advancement.

"Good work Naruto." Kakashi congradulated him with a eye-smile.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei, but who are those guys?" Naruto asked.

"Judging by their hitai-ate and their style of attack, I would say that these two are the infamous Demon Brothers. They're a couple of Missing-nins that left Kirigakure a few years ago." the silver-haired man replied as he tied the two shinobi up with thick ninja wire.

"So why did they attack us?" Sakura asked.

"That's a good question. Would you two care to answer her?" Kakashi said to the Demon Brothers who were coming back to consciousness.

"Go to hell." one of the brothers muttered.

Seeing that they weren't going to get anything out of them willingly Naruto walked towards the two grabbed the wire that held the shinobi and started to drag them into the forest. "I'll be back in a minute sensei." he said as he walked away leaving a very curious team.

About thirty seconds after he went into the woods two bloodcurdling screams pierced the quiet of the forest. A few seconds later Naruto came back with the two assailants with a smile on his face. The Demon Brothers looked as if they had just seen a ghost, and smelling like they had wet themselves.

"What exactly did you do Naruto?" Kakashi demanded his student.

"I just showed them the real me Kakashi-sensei." Naruto casually responded, "Anyways, I think you have some explaining to do Tazuna." the blond continued causing everyone to turn their attention towards the old man.

"W-what are you talking about kid?" Tazuna nerviously responded.

"The Demon Brothers said that they were hired to take you out. If you had someone after your life already you should have told us." Naruto wagged his finger at the old man for witholding that important bit of information from them.

"What does it matter if someone was after me already or not?"

"It matters quite a bit Tazuna-san. You hired us for a C-rank mission to protect you from any bandits or animals you would meet on the road. It's a simple task for a ninja, but because of the risk of death it is a C-ranked mission, and something that the average Genin team should be able to handle. However, you didn't inform us that someone was already after your head, and you also didn't inform us that there was a chance that we'd have to deal with other ninja." Kakashi replied to their client.

"We're Genin Tazuna-san, we're not supposed to be battling other ninja yet. We've barely graduated from the academy." Sakura added her two cents as well.

Under the collective looks of team seven Tazuna gave a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry that I lied to your village, but you have to understand. Wave Country is on hard times right now. Even the Daimyo could barely be considered middle class. Have any of you heard of a man Gatou?" Tazuna asked the team.

"He's the head of a major shipping company right?" Kakashi responded.

"That's right. About a year ago he set his sights on Wave country. He used dirty tactics to take hold of all the imports and exports of the island. He completely controls the market, and he's slowly been pushing us towards poverty. Anyone unfortunate enough to stand up to him has been killed so far and there are few who are willing to oppose him now."

"So what are you doing that's so important that he would send ninja after you?" Sasuke demanded.

"As I've already told you I'm a bridge builder. Right now I'm working on a bridge that will connect Wave with the mainland. If it is completed business will start to come back to wave and Gatou will lose his control." the old bridge builder said with hope in his voice. "Then again, it's not really your obligation to help me. Our country will just have to continue living in poverty, my grandson will cry over for days, and my daughter will swear revenge on all Konoha shinobi, but it's not your problem." he continued with a smile causing team seven to sweat-drop.

"Alright you three what do you think we should do?" Kakashi asked.

"I say we keep going." Naruto easily responded. His anger slowly grew as he listened to the old man's story. This Gatou person sounded too much like a certain snake-eyed bastard.

Sasuke refused to quit if Naruto was going to continue and decided that they should go on automatically securing Sakura's vote.

Two days later Team seven and Tazuna had finally reached Wave country. After a short boat ride through the mist that surrounded the island the group finally reached the last part of their journey. As they continued on a smell came into Naruto's nose that he was very familiar with. It was the smell of sweat and steel and it was coming from the bushes next to them.

Deciding it was better to be safe then sorry he quickly pulled a kunai from its holster and chucked it into the bushes drawing everyone's attention. "I thought I heard something." Naruto whispered to the group.

As the group moved towards the bushes they saw a scared shitless bunny with a kunai just above its head.

"Naruto, look what you did!" Sakura screeched, but Naruto wasn't listening. Instead his attention was directed towards the white rabbit in front of him. It was obviously a snow hare, but weren't they supposed to have brown fur this time of year?

Before he could finish this thought his senses alerted him to incoming danger. It seemed that Kakashi was aware as well because both of them screamed, "GET DOWN!" at the same time.

The group ducked just in time as a large object came whirling through the air above them and sunk into a nearby tree. They looked up to see a huge blade a little bigger than Naruto's embedded in the tree. It had a circle shaped hole near the top band at the bottom part of the blade. On top of the blade was a tall man who stood just above Kakashi's size. He had tan skin and short black hair. He also had bandages wrapped around his mouth and wore light purple overalls.

"So, this is the group that beat the Demon Brothers huh? How embarrassing, to lose to a bunch of brats." the strange man scoffed.

"Zabuza Momochi." Kakashi exclaimed.

"Oh, I see that my reputation precedes me. If you know who I am then you won't mind handing over the old man would you?"

"Not a chance in hell!" Naruto rebutted as his hand went towards Hebidoshi.

"Stand back Naruto. You three protect Tazuna I'll take care of Zabuza." Kakashi announced as he lifted his Hitai-ate above his left eye. With the forehead protector out of the way Zabuza looked into a red eye with three black tomoes around the pupil.

"Ah I thought you looked familiar. You're Kakashi Hatake, better known as Sharingan Kakashi master of a thousand techniques." Zabuza said shocking all of the members of Team Seven especially Sasuke.

_'How does my sensei have the_ _Sharingan__? My brother_ _and I_ a_re the only Uchiha left!'_

"Oh, I see my reputation precedes me. If you know who I am then you won't mind leaving now right?" Kakashi asked.

"Not a chance in hell." Zabuza said while smirking at Naruto, and going through some hand seals. "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" he whispered as a strange fog covered the area around them.

Team Seven stood on all sides of Tazuna waiting for the swordsmen to make his move. The mist was thick and even Naruto's and Kakashi's eyes couldn't see that far. The chakra filled air was also messing with Naruto's sense of smell.

"Eight points." a deep voice called from the mist, "Lungs, spine, larynx, liver, jugular vein, kidneys, brain, or the heart. Any of these points are lethal targets. Which do you prefer to die by?" Zabuza said before letting out a deep laugh.

The killing intent coming from the mist was powerful. It was probably the most intense Naruto had ever felt. The only person he'd ever seen match that energy was Anko. Although he was dealing with the pressure well Sasuke and Sakura weren't doing as well. Sasuke looked like he was bringing his kunai towards his neck before Kakashi spoke.

"Don't worry Sasuke; I won't let my team die." he said with a reassuring smile. No sooner than he spoke those words Zabuza appeared behind Team Seven and brought his sword swinging down towards them. Team Seven was just able to dodge the attack while Tazuna was pulled out of the way by Sakura.

The attack was the start of the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza. Armed only with kunai and shuriken Kakashi was mainly on the defensive only able to make quick shots at the sword wielding shinobi. Zabuza's next blow force to grey-haired shinobi to jump back and onto a large lake. As he landed he noticed something different about the water.

_'Why is this water so heavy? Unless...' _Kakash then tried to dive underwater, but it was useless.

"You fell for it." Zabuza said from next to Kakashi. "Water Prison Jutsu!" he continued as a shell of water formed around Kakashi. "You may have been trying to escape to the water, but that was a big mistake. Hehehe, now I have you in my inescapable prison. Now Kakashi we can finish things later. First I'll take care of them Water Clone Jutsu!" he said as his clone rose from the lake.

"Hehe, just because you gaki's are wearing hitai-ate's and acting like real ninjas doesn't make you a real one. No a real ninja is someone who has killed many, and survived numerous brushes with death. Basically once you're good enough to be listed in my handbook, then you can start calling yourself a ninja." Zabuza's water clone said before he disappeared, and kicked Naruto back a few feet.

Kakashi was trapped and he knew it. He couldn't ask his team to help him. It was true that Naruto had good techniques and a very impressive weapon, but he wouldn't be able to beat a water master on a lake, and he didn't stand a chance against a mist seven swordsmen in a kenjutsu battle. There was only one option left.

"You three, take Tazuna and run away! As long as he's keeping me trapped in this prison he can't move!" he shouted at them.

"We can't just leave you Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura responded.

"Yes you can! He can't hold me in this prison and chase after you at the same time. And the water clone cannot go very far from his real body. Just run away now!" the Copycat ninja ordered his Genin team.

Naruto just stood up, and spat some blood out, "Sorry Kakashi-sensei, but even if we run away what's stopping him from coming after us after he finished you?"

"The gaki's pretty smart, but do you really stand a chance?" Zabuza's clone asked.

"What are you doing? Run away! This fight was over the moment I was caught! Our duty is to protect Tazuna did you forget that!" Kakashi raged at his students.

The three then looked at Tazuna for conformation.

"Well...I planted this seed myself. I'm not going to say I desire to live so much that I'd stop you." the bridge builder said. "I'm sorry guys, fight as much as you want."

His declaration just made both Zabuza's laugh.

"You three will never grow up." Zabuza's clone said. "You're just going to keep "playing" ninja eh?"

The real Zabuza then brought his free hand up and stared at it. "When I...when I was about your age, these hands were already dyed red with blood." he said making the Genin gulp.

"Demon Zabuza." Kakashi muttered.

"Ah so you've heard a little about it?"

"Long ago in The Village Hidden in the Mist, also called The Bloody Mist, there was a final obstacle in becoming a ninja." Kakashi responded with disgust.

"Hm...even you know about that graduation exam." Zabuza's clone mused.

By now Naruto was truly confused. During his time in the academy they never once mentioned what the other Hidden Villages did for their graduation exams. Hell even during his training time with Anko, she never once mentioned what the other villages customs were. So naturally he asked the question that was confusing him.

"That exam?" he asked.

Both Zabuza's just started laughing which pissed him off.

"What's this graduation exam thing!"

"Fights to the death between students." the real Zabuza responded igniting shocked looks from the Genin. "There are friends who have helped each other, and shared dreams. Friends who have trained, and eaten at the same table are pitted against each other and go at it...until one of them loses his life."

"Terrible." Sakura muttered looking a little green.

"Ten years ago The Hidden Mist's graduation exam was forced to chance. This change came after the previous year when a demon appeared." Kakashi explained to them.

"Change?" Sakura asked.

When no one answered her she asked again.

"What change? What did this demon do?"

With hesitation Kakashi answered her, "Without pause or hesitation, a boy who was not even a ninja...had killed over a hundred of the students."

"That sure was fun." the real Zabuza sighed in pleasure at the memory.

Naruto then knew what he had to do. He knew he had only one shot. One quick rush to get within distance to attack Zabuza and force him to free Kakashi. He already knew how to do it. The only problem was his teammates.

_'I really don't want to do this. Oh well, I would have had to tell them eventually.' _

"Sasuke, Sakura, I have a plan." Naruto said as he took off his jacket, "I need you guys to cover me until I make it to the water I'll take it from there."he continued before he ran towards the lake leaving two shocked Genin in his wake.

As he ran towards the water Zabuza's clone swing his mighty blade only to use it to stop the kunai and shuriken from Sakura and Sasuke. This distraction allowed Naruto to cut him in half by Hebidoshi.

When Naruto reached the water he jumped into the air before diving in. "Your student is a fool Kakashi. I'll just kill him while he's underwater." Zabuza said. As he went to make a hand seal he noticed a shadow in the water about five feet away from them. Before he could react the figure sprung from the lake.

He expected the blond brat with blue eyes. That's what they all expected. What they saw was completely different. They saw a green scaled creature with a humanoid form and webbed hands and feet, it's eyes were completely red and the oddest thing about the creature was that it was dressed in the same clothes Naruto was wearing.


	6. The Battle for Wave

I don't own Naruto.

"Talk"

'_Think_'

**"Talk"**

**'_Think_'**

* * *

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Zabuza yelled as Naruto sprung from the lake, and headbutted him in the chest forcing him to release Kakashi.

Naruto then opened his mouth and shot out some water bullets. Zabuza brought his mighty Kubikiri Haoucho (Head Cleaver) to block the bullets, however he didn't expect the force of their impact and was sent further away from Kakashi and Team Seven.

The blond chimera then transformed back into his human form. He unsheathed Hebidoshi and charged head on towards The Demon of the Mist. Zabuza saw him coming and brought his massive blade down. The two mighty swords clashed with enough force it sent the two back a few feet. Zabuza sent a downward strike but then turned it into a forward jab. Naruto caught his fist and used the momentum to lift himself off the water and over the other mans shoulder and sent a cross slash in mid air. As if sensing it Zabuza parried the move in mid air and sent a right fist. Naruto saw this so he pushed himself off of the other mans sword, did a black flip and then charged forward and sent a forward jab of his own which was block at the blunt end of the mans sword.

"Who the hell are you?" Zabuza asked his opponent as he knocked him back.

"A monster." Naruto answered rearing Hebidoshi to strike.

The two charged at each other again, and clearing was then filled with the sounds of metal clashing. Brief flashes of polished steel and flying sparks indicated where both combatants met. Only Kakashi could follow the two warriors as they traded slashes.

_'This is insanity! Even I would be hard pressed to match either of them in speed! Naruto what type pf training did you go through to get this strong?' _Kakashi thought.

As the fight wore on both combatants were becoming tired. However Zabuza was only panting when Naruto was breathing irregularly. While he may have been a stamina freak this was his first real fight with a man of Zabuza's caliber, and let's not forget that every time he clashed with Kubikiri Haoucho it made his arms feel like jelly.

Zabuza brought his giant cleaver over his head, and brought it down on Naruto. He blocked it but was brought to his knees under the sheer force of the zanbatou's weight. Naruto knew he wouldn't last longer so he used his remaining strength to throw Zabuza's blade away from him. He then pumped some chakra into his right leg and kicked The Demon of the Mist in the stomach, causing Zabuza to gasp out in surprise as he flew backwards.

Naruto quickly jumped to his feet and flashed through hand seals like lightning, "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" he shouted as a huge fountain of foam and water surged a hundred feet into the sky, causing it to rain all over the lake. The sheer force of the wave caused by the blast knocked Zabuza back over fifty feet, the only thing that stopped him from going further was a thick three. The impact stunned him, and the last thing he felt was pain in his neck, and saw was a white Hunter-nin mask with a red swirl painted on it, then everything went black.

Naruto had jumped over the tidal wave and waited for the fountain to die out. When it did, he saw a person dressed in a blue battle kimono standing over Zabuza.

"Thank you for your assistance," the masked person thanked the blond as he came out of hiding. "I was afraid that I would not be enough to take down the legendary Demon of the Bloody Mist." the person then gave them a bow.

"A Hunter-nin." Kakashi whispered.

"What's a Hunter-nin?" Sakura asked.

"They are a group that hunts down traitors that abandon their villages." the Copycat ninja responded as he walked towards the body. "They are trained to kill them, and then dispose of the body so that their village's secrets won't fall into the enemy's hands."

"That is correct," the Hunter-nin said in a very feminine voice. "now I must dispose of the body." the Hunter-nin carefully picked Zabuza's body up and the two vanished.

"Whew that was a tough fight." Naruto sighed before collapsing from exhaustion.

* * *

Tazuna's House a few hours Later

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and stared up at a woman in her mid to late twenties, she had long black hair that went to the middle of her back, and was dressed in a pale lavender kimono and an apron.

"About time you woke up." she smiled before turning her head towards a flight of stairs. "He's awake!" she said in a slightly louder voice. A moment later Naruto heard the sounds of several footsteps. Soon, he was greeted by the faces of team, and Tazuna.

Slowly, Naruto moved into a sitting position and looked around. If his guess was right, he was in the living room of house that Tazuna lived in. There was a flight of stairs that told him this was a two story building. He could see the kitchen that was empty except for a table, some cabinets, and a few modern connivance's. The furniture looked old and patched up. It looked like Tazuna wasn't kidding about being poor.

"Good to see your up." Tazuna sighed in relief. "Don't worry; you're safe here in my daughter's home. I doubt that Gato will send anyone else after you defeated that Jounin."

"I guess." Naruto sighed, "Man I'm worn out."

"Sensei who exactly was that masked kid? And why does that mask look so different from the masks Konoha wears?" Sasuke asked Kakashi.

"That's the mask worn by the Hidden Mists special Hunter-nin team. And the reason their masks are different than ours is just because they're from another village. But despite our differences all Hunter-nin have one thing in common."

"What's that exactly? Naruto asked.

"Total elimination of Missing ninja. Their duty is to dispose of the body without a trace." Kakashi answered to the shock of everyone in the room. "The reason is because a ninjas body has within it secrets of the village's ninjutsu, information on different chakra types, herbs, and other things that will reveal things about the village." he continued ignoring the look of disgust going across everyone's faces.

"For example, if I died, the secrets of the Sharingan could be revealed. If you don't be careful there's the danger that the enemy will steal your jutsu. A ninjas body can reveal important information. So, by killing and disposing of the Missing-nins that have abandoned their village, the Hunter ninja protect the information from getting out. They are the specialists who guard their village's secrets. No sound, no smell...that is a ninjas end."

"So Zabuza has been chopped up and disposed of? Scary!" Sakura shuddered, with both Naruto and Sasuke actually agreeing on the same thing for once.

* * *

Meanwhile in some clearing

Elsewhere, the Hunter-nin dropped Zabuza to the ground in a mist filled clearing, and pulled out a pouch with medical tools. Pulling out a pair of scissors, she moved them to Zabuza's face.

"Okay," she whispered to herself. "first I'll cut the mouth cloth, drain a little blood, and-"

"That won't be necessary." said the revitalized Zabuza, grabbing the hand with the scissors and uncovering his mouth with the other.

"Oh you're alive."

Cursing, Zabuza pulled the senbon from his neck. "You shouldn't do that," the Hunter-nin scolded. "You could die pulling them out like that."

"How long are you going to wear that stupid mask? Take it off." Zabuza growled ignoring her.

After Zabuza said to take off the mask, she reached up and pulled it off, revealing a pretty face framed by black hair and a Mist hitai-ate. "It reminds me of the old days...and it was useful for the act. If I hadn't showed up, you would have died."

"If you were going to temporarily kill me," Zabuza retorted, massaging the entry wounds, "you could have hit me somewhere else. It didn't have to be my neck. You have the finesse of a butcher."

The Hunter-nin just smiled at the insult,"I know...I just didn't want to scar your body, and the neck doesn't have much muscle, so it's easier to hit the pressure point there. You shouldn't move for about a week, but you'll be able to move soon."

Zabuza stared at her, then chuckled. "You're so pure and clever that's what I like about you, Haku."

Haku just smiled again. "That's because I'm just a kid...look, the mist is clearing. Will you be all right next time?"

"Yes, but next time, I will not underestimate that kid."

* * *

Back at Tazuna's House

Kakashi suddenly grabbed his head like he was hit with a rock.

"What's wrong sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Huh? Well...Hunter-nins usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right then and there."

"So what?"

"Well the Hunter-nin took the body, and she could have just taken the head as proof. And the weapon she used to kill Zabuza were simple needles."

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed putting two and two together.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tazuna asked feeling a cold shiver go down his spine.

"It's most likely...Zabuza is still alive!" Kakashi said igniting frighten looks from Naruto, Sakura, Tazuna, and a confused look from Tsunami.

"What the hell do you mean? We both checked his pulse he was dead!" Naruto shouted at his sensei.

"Yes we did, but that was just most likely a momentary death. The needles that Hunter-nin used were probably senbon needles, and unless they hit a vital organ, they have a low possibility of killing your opponent. It's an item even used by doctors in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nins know about the body's structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a momentary dead state is probably easy for them." Kakashi paused to let the information sink in. "Man I should have known it was so obvious. First, she carried away the body of a much heavier Zabuza. Second, she used a weapon that has a low probability of killing. These two points indicate that here motive was not to kill Zabuza, but save him. We can't ignore that possibility."

"Aren't you thinking too much? Hunter-nins are supposed to kill Missing-nins." Tazuna asked.

"No with all the suspicion we will prepare before it's too late. That's a shinobi rule. Plus weather Zabuza is dead or alive, there's no assurances that Gato hasn't hired an even stronger shinobi. We'll start tomorrow." Kakashi told his students.

"That doesn't sound like fun." a voice suddenly said making the ninja took towards the source. They saw a young boy about eight years old wearing black overalls, a white t-shirt, and a white bucket hat.

"Inari where have you been?" Tazuna said happily.

Inari ran to him, and then hugged him.

"These are the people who saved your grandpa." Tazuna said, pointing at the three Genin.

"They're all gonna die." Inari stated.

"Little punk," Naruto growled, leaping to his feet. When Inari said that they would definitely lose to Gatou. "Listen up, gaki!" he said, pointing at him. "We'll not lose to a scumbag like Gato!"

Inari only snorted at that remark, "Are you an idiot? If you don't want to die, then leave while you still can..." with that, the eight year old boy turned on his heel and went to his room.

"We'll start training tomorrow." Kakashi sighed knowing he wasn't going to like this week one bit.

In some random forest clearing the next day, the one-eyed Jounin finally stopped at the location he felt suited to train them. "Okay, now we start training." Kakashi said. He had taken the Genin to a forest and was now using crutches to get around. "I assume you all know what chakra is, right?" when the three Genin nodded, he sighed in relief. "I'm gonna teach you how to harness it correctly."

"But we can already use jutsu." Sasuke said.

"Nope!" Kakashi eye-smiled at them. "You guys aren't using it correctly."

Seeing Sasuke's and Sakura's confused looks, and Naruto's bored one he continued. "To release chakra means to harness spiritual and physical energy in your body and mix them within you. Based on what jutsu you use, the type and amount of chakra that is released will be different. But you guys aren't using your chakra effectively. Even if you're able to release a high amount of chakra, it isn't worth squat if you can't control it properly...any jutsu you use will be weakened or won't work at all. So basically, you'll be screwed in a fight because of wasting energy."

"So what do you want us to do?" Sasuke asked.

"You guys are gonna learn how to control your chakra by climbing trees."

"How will tree-climbing help us?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi eye-smiled once again. "You'll be doing it without using your hands."

"How are we going to do that?" the pinkette asked after overcoming her shock.

Putting his hands in the tiger seal, Kakashi turned to his tree and walked straight up it. "You gather chakra in the soles of your feet and climb. The main purpose of this exercise is to teach you chakra control. Bringing out the right amount to the right area this is essential when using jutsu. Hell, even a skilled ninja has trouble with this exercise. The amount of chakra needed for tree-climbing is small, but it must be exact. They say that the soles of the feet are extremely difficult to gather chakra at. So basically, if you master this, then you can master any jutsu...in theory, that is." he paused to let the information sink in.

"The second purpose is to give you stamina needed for chakra control. Depending on the jutsu, controlling your chakra can be difficult as well. And a shinobi will usually be doing this while constantly moving usually in battle. These types of situations can be very stressful on you and your chakra control. That's why you'll be climbing trees."

He then threw three kunai at their feet "Use those kunai to mark how far you get up the tree, then try to get higher than you did. You guys won't be able to do it well at first, so try running to gain momentum."

Sasuke ran up his tree, bt he used too much chakra and made four steps up the tree before the wood underfoot splintered and he was forced to vault off.

_'Damn!'_ he thought, glaring at his mark. _'Too much chakra, and the wood cracks too little, and you won't get far.'_

Sakura had made it to the top of her tree and shouted down, "This is pretty easy!"

Naruto made it up his tree as well, "I'm finished too, but Kakashi-sensei can I talk to you for a minute."

"Of course follow me."

After a few minutes of walking Naruto finally asked a question that has been bugging him for sometime, "Kakashi-sensei how come Sasuke and Sakura aren't asking me questions or freaking out about what happened yesterday?"

"I told them it was a bloodline, and they bought it." Kakashi answered.

"Oh...then what happened to my jacket?"

"It's back at the house, and I put some fingerless gloves in one of its pockets since you other pair were destroyed." he indicated towards Naruto's bandaged hands.

"Yea that's the problem with my amphibian form, it destroys my gloves. Thanks for the cover up sensei, I'm going to train." Naruto said before running off towards the house.

A few days later everyone was sitting down for a peaceful dinner. Sasuke then glared at Naruto, "Where were you all day dobe? Too good to train with us?"

"Screw off." Naruto said before he continued eating.

Everything was quiet until Inari came in and ruined the silence, "Why do you try so hard? No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to defeat Gato's men! When the weak fight, they will always lose!" Inari shouted. Tsunami and Tazuna were glaring at Inari. While Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi all looked a little surprised at the outburst. Naruto however was not so subtle.

"Up yours kid, that fat monkey is nothing compared to the things I've seen." he spat before turning back to his dinner, Tsunami already told them the story of the of Kaiza's death. It wasn't that he didn't care, but the way the boy always wined about it just trashed his memory.

Tears formed in Inari's eyes. "SHUT UP! You have no clue about me! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE A ROUGH LIFE!" the small boy screamed the last part. The little overall-wearing boy was about to continue when he felt the temperature in the room drop by about fifteen degrees Celsius. Everyone else gasped too. Naruto looked up at Inari with pure wrath blazing in his now glowing cold dead blue eyes causing the child to shrink back in fear.

Before anyone could say anything Naruto disappeared and reappeared in front of Inari. He grabbed him by his neck and slammed him against the wall choking the air out of him. That one act got everyone to look alarmed.

The blond was glaring at Inari with so much anger that the boy almost pissed his pants. Naruto then spoke in a deadly tone, "So I don't know what it's like to have a rough life huh? Sitting on my ass crying over losing my dad to the monster called Gato when I got my mother and my grandfather still alive? Let me tell you something you little bitch I had to raise myself from shit, and went through three years of antagonizing pain! You only lost your dad. If you think for one second that this is a hard life then let me show you what real suffering is!" Naruto said as he charged chakra into his left index and middle fingers, and poked Inari in the forehead.

At first nothing happened and everyone sighed in relief. But then the young boy fell to the floor in agony. Tears flooded from his eyes, he started screaming "No stop!" over and over again, then it stopped like it never happened.

Everyone looked at Naruto for an explanation, but he was gone with an open window telling them he went out.

"Inari what did he do to you?" Tazuna asked helping up his grandson.

"Naruto...ARRGH!" Inari started as he suddenly screamed and fell down to one knee.

"Inari, whats wrong?" Tsunami asked with worry for her only son.

"It...it's-" Inari started but grew silent when a voice was heard in the back of the young boys head.

_'__Ah Ah Ah what you saw was a secret between us...so keep it to yourself. And always remember how lucky you are compared to me.' _the voice said in Inari's subconscious mind as it let out a dark chuckle.

"I now know what Naruto said...when there were people off worse than me." Inari whispered before heading up to his room.

Later in a clearing Naruto had released his Chameleon and bat form, and mercilessly unleashed his anger on the trees in the area. What that little punk said had driven him over the edge, he needed to be away from the house for the rest of the night or someone might lose their life that very night.

A young woman with long, silky brown hair walked through the forest. She was wearing a pink flowery kimono, and her beautiful dark brown eyes were drinking in the enchanting sight of the morning forest. Currently, she was looking for herbs to help...someone recover. As she walked, she came upon a rather discontenting sight. It looked as though a huge explosion had happened right in front of her. The earth had been turned into glass here and there, and dust that was once the trees were scattered across the ground. Concerned and disturbed a little bit, the girl crept cautiously along the swath of destruction. After a moment, she came upon an interesting sight; there was a blond teen lying on the grass that came before the devastated area.

The girl suddenly realized that this wasn't just _any _blond; he was the one who fought against Zabuza the other day. She tilted her head, for he looked so peaceful and yet she could feel that something was off about him.

Haku then shook Naruto until he awoke. "You shouldn't sleep here," she said gently. "you might catch a cold."

Naruto grinned wearily, "I've been through worse."

Moments later we find Naruto helping Haku search for more herbs. "Is this the one?" he asked, pointing to a plant.

"Yes," Haku answered. "thank you for helping me."

"No prob. But you're up early miss." Naruto commented.

"You too," Haku replied. "what are you doing this early in the morning?"

"Training," he said as it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I wanna become stronger, so that's why I'm here."

Haku, being absolutely sincere, replied, "But you look plenty strong to me."

Naruto detected a bit of, at least what he thought, a small bit of affection. "I know." he said, squinting and grinning. "But I want to become stronger, so I can be the best shinobi in my village, and to help people who really need it."

Haku giggled, and asked, "Do you have a precious person...someone close to you?" her thoughts went back to her childhood, where she was alone and unable to help herself. But then Zabuza came. "When someone has something they're willing to lay their life down for, then they can become truly strong."

Naruto thought about this. He thought of Takashi, Isaribi, Zaku, Kin, Tayuya, Dashi, Suigetsu, Arashi, and even Kimimaro the friends he left behind. Then the Sandaime who was the first to acknowledge him, then Iruka who thought of him as a surrogate brother. His thoughts then went to the Ichiraku's, Hinata, Ino, Shino, Anko, hell he even thought of Kakashi for a little bit. "Yeah," he said grinning. "I'm growing stronger to protect my friends, and I will protect all of them no matter what."

Haku smiled, and she stood about, leaving the clearing as she said, "You will become strong...let's meet again somewhere."

"I'm sure we will," Naruto said. "Tell Zabuza that I want to show him my strength."

Haku stiffened. He had known? Her thoughts were answered by Naruto's voice, "I can smell him on you. But I'm not mad...I just want to be friends...believe it."

Haku bowed her head. He truly was something else. "As do I," she said, walking away. "As do I..."

* * *

We now find our blond hero asleep passed out in his bed from training too hard last night. Kakashi said Sakura, Sasuke, and himself will accompany Tazuna to the bridge today since Zabuza would probably be showing up today.

Naruto woke up to the sound of screaming. He quickly ran down the stair to see the door had been smashed in. Naruto ran through the broken door to see Inari running towards two wannabe samurai without any fear. The two samurai tried to take a slash at Inari and surprisingly they hit nothing but air. They looked around until they saw Naruto stand at the edge of the bridge looking at the samurai. His eyes cold and unforgiving.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?" Naruto said as he put Inari down along with his mother. The samurai saw the woman and looked to see that they were holding a log instead.

"Screw off kid! Gato wants this family and I suggest you move." a mime looking man said as he angrily threw down the log.

"Or I'll just cut you down." a man with an eye-patch continued as he readied his sword.

"I don't think so." Naruto smirked as he raised his arms, and two red snakes flew out of his sleeves latching onto their necks. They fell to their knees paralyzed.

"Like it?" he asked scratching one of them the under the chin, "These rare breed of snakes are special because they inject their venom into their victims, but they can choose the type of venom to inject into them. I asked them to just paralyze you." he continued before they receded back into his sleeves.

"W-What ar u goin to do to us?" the mime man managed to slur out.

"Ahh so you can still speak, well I'll tell you what I'm going to do." Naruto said before walking up to them. With each step he took the men struggled to get their bodies to function, only for their attempts to be proved futile.

When Naruto finally reached them the could see the coldest eyes they have ever seen. "I'm going to end your existence!" he yelled raising both his arms shouting, "Splicing Sound Wave!" his gloves blew off as a great blast of wind flew from his hands striking the men head on. The aftermath wasn't pretty, because them men's heads were gone and on the ground was a mass of red goo.

"God dammit there goes another pair of gloves." Naruto complained as he looked at the exposed tubes on his hands. Now he would normally reflect on his on his first kills, but his team was in trouble. He glanced back at Inari, gave him a thumbs up, and ran towards the bridge.

* * *

The Bridge

Kakashi was currently having a highly intense fight with Zabuza. He was already wounded, and was glad that he had his Sharingan active or he was sure that he would have been dead by now. Zabuza was very unpredictable. the man had no fighting style, but using his brute strength in his blows says that this man truly earned his name as The Demon of the Mist.

Zabuza sent a downward strike with his zanbatou but then turned it into a forward jab. Kakashi dodged and used the momentum to back away from the man, and drawing a kunai.

"Is that all you got Kakashi? I guess your legendary skills aren't so great." Zabuza taunted as he took a slash at Kakashi who parried the move.

"Tell me something Zabuza. Why are you working for Gato?" Kakashi said before breaking the struggle forward. He then sent a side swipe to the mans waist.

"I'm doing my job." Zabuza retorted pushing the sword aside before throwing a left punch. Kakashi jumped back and sent one of his own.

"What kind of job is it that is so important that you would have to kill the only thing that would bring life back to something that man is trying to kill?" he asked as his punch was blocked and he was thrown over Zabuza's shoulder. He landed on his feet only to block the attack that Zabuza was sending him a left punch.

"Because I need him in order to fulfill my ambition. I must do this or all our sacrifices would be in vain." he replied still keeping the struggle. He then saw the masked man jump away into the thick mist.

"Zabuza our fight is finished! Summoning: Earth Style: Fanged Pursuit!"

"Talking will get you nowhere Kakashi, without the use of your Sharingan your noth-" he was interrupted when some dogs burst from the bridge, grabbing Zabuza and holding him tight in place.

As the mist cleared Kakashi saw Zabuza being held by a bunch of dogs. A huge bull dog bit into both of his right shoulder rendering it useless, two great dame's held his hands, two Labrador retrievers held his arms, two rottweilers bit into his thighs, two begals bit into his ankles, and a pug bit on the long cloth of his hitai-ate. "How?" Zabuza asked despite the pain.

"Earlier in the fight I let you wound me, and your weapons stink with my blood, so my hounds couldn't miss you." Kakashi replied as the fog lifted. "The fog is lifting. I can see your future, and your future is death!"

"You say my future is death? I've had enough of your bluffs!" Zabuza raged.

"Zabuza you've had your fun. You schemed your schemes, the day you deserted The Village Hidden in the Mist and became a Missing-nin, your name and your reactions were reported to every village. We all know your failed coup d'etat you and your followers staged, and the attempt to assassinate the Mizukage. Since then you've been trying to raise funds for a second attempt, and barely staying ahead of the Hunter-nins which is what brought you here. It's why you'd stoop to work for scum like Gato." Kakashi then did three hand seals and used his left hand to brace his right wrist. A ring of crackling chakra appeared around him and small bolts of electricity flowed from the ring into his hand. the bolts eventually stopped and he now held a large blue ball of lightning, which let out a terrible sound like the screeching of a thousand angry birds.

"You're are a loose cannon. The man you're trying to kill, Tazuna, is the heart and spirit of this place. And the bridge you're trying to prevent him from completing is the lands hope. You're willing to sacrifice this place and everyone in this village, just to advance your own ambitions" he continued staring hard at his opponent.

"Spare me the civics lesson and philosophy, you have no right in my affairs! Do your worst!" Zabuza roared.

"Then die! Lightning Blade!" the Copycat ninja yelled as he ran at Zabuza his right hand at his side tearing through the bridge, he then brought his hand up to plunge it into his chest. But he saw a dark shape appear before him. Too late to pull back, he surged forward, thrusting his lightening-engulfed hand at Zabuza.

In a splash of blood, he saw with horror what he actually hit.

Haku had reached Zabuza in time...but Naruto had shoved her out of the way, and taken the powerful lightning techniue in his right shoulder. "Wha...wha..." Kakashi tried to get out the words, but Naruto grinned, despite the pain he was in.

"I don't know why, but I couldn't let her die." he said, as Kakashi pulled his trembling hand free from his student. Naruto, clutching his profusely bleeding shoulder, let his healing factor take over, which would undoubtedly leave a scar. He smiled that told Kakashi that told him he would be okay.

Zabuza decided that, unknown factors or not, Uzumaki and Kakashi were going to die. He swiped at the two with his giant sword, but Kakashi reacted faster. Mad at himself for injuring his own student, he brutally jabbed a kunai into Zabuza's remaining arm, rendering it useless.

Even so, Zabuza tried to fight back, but Kakashi withdrew another kunai and held it to the injured Missing-nins throat. "You can't beat me, Zabuza I was a former Anbu captain, and you're in no shape to take me on."

"Well, well..." came a familiar voice. It was Gato, and he had brought just about all of his henchmen. "Looks like you're getting your ass kicked Zabuza."

"Gato," Zabuza growled, in no mood for this. "what do you want? And what's with those men?"

Sakura, who had brought semi-conscious and senbon filled Sasuke over. "What's going on?" she asked.

Haku grimaced. "It's our employer." she said wearily, tired from using her chakra.

"Hehehe..." Gato chuckled. "The plan's changed. At first I wasn't going to pay you, and let the Hunter-nin from Water Country know where you were." Zabuza grimaced. He knew this wasn't going to end well. "But then I saw this fight, and thought that it'd be better to kill off you guys, and give the girls to my men as part of a job well done."

Sakura gasped in horror, Haku lifted herself to her feet, and glared at the short man who dared to betray them, as the rowdy group of man behind Gato leered at the girls. While the men were looking at them with absolute hatred.

Gatou saw her, and grinned evilly. "Actually, as punishment for breaking my arm, my men can have you as their little toy, and I'll keep the pink-haired one after all, it's not every day that you find a girl with natural pink hair. I find it...exotic."

Naruto, at this point, had had enough. It was bad enough that he insulted Haku, and even though he didn't care much for Sakura he couldn't help but be pissed about it. He drew out two kunai, both with exploding tags, and threw them at Gato. Due to his still-recovering injuries, he missed and hit some of the men instead, the explosion killing thirteen of them. "I think you'll be deader faster than you can scream out your last words!" he roared.

"I think so, too," Zabuza said, his eyes filled with rage. "kid, gimme a kunai!"

Naruto tossed him a kunai with his left hand, and Zabuza loosened his mouth bandages, catching it with his teeth. "Goodbye, Haku," The Demon of the Mist said, and ignoring Haku's calls for him to stop, he rushed towards his opponents.

Gato saw him coming and ran behind the ranks of his men, ordering them to kill him. They responded enthusiastically, but as Zabuza approached, they saw his aura surrounding him. "A true demon!" one bandit screamed before Zabuza cut through him, and before long the men were dropping like flies.

Gato was sure that Zabuza was dead, but Zabuza proved him wrong. He appeared before Gato, swords sticking out of his back, and stabbed the short man with the kunai. Some of Gato's man stabbed him in the back when he was standing still, but Zabuza was single-minded in his mission. "Hope you like the heat," he said, his eyes now shining with madness, "because where you and I are going, it's gonna be HOT!" with that, he severed Gato's head from his body.

His mission done, he fell to the ground, his wounds kicking in at last. Gato's men stood around the dying Missing-nin, then turned to Team Seven and Haku. "You guys are dead!" one bandit shouted.

"Ransack the village!" another one yelled.

Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke were on their feet, facing the oncoming hordes.

"We're screwed." Sasuke simply said.

"Yes we are." Naruto agreed unsheathing Hebidoshi. "But I'm not going down without a fight. They can have Haku-chan and this village over my dead body!"

Despite the situation, Haku blushed slightly, but she and the others were caught by surprise when an arrow landed in front of the gang of henchmen. "If you come on our island," shouted Inari, at the head of a group of vengeful villagers, "we'll stop you with everything we've got!"

At this point, Naruto grinned slightly and did the only thing he could. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" ten Naruto's flickered into existence, and Kakashi did the same as well, creating twenty Kakashi's.

This was too much for the henchmen, and they took off, screaming and piling onto Gatou's boat, to the joy of the villagers. "We did it!" they shouted.

As the shadow clones poofed out of existence, Kakashi turned to Naruto. "Naruto I'm sorry about the Lightning Blade to your shoulder-"

"It's okay sensei," Naruto said. "I've been through worse remember?"

Kakashi nodded, not sure if he should still check over Naruto.

Haku fell to her knees beside the dying Zabuza, and let her tears stream down. "Zabuza..."

Zabuza wearily looked up. "Haku...you've become a fine shinobi, and a fine young woman." coughing up blood, he knew his time was short. "You don't need me anymore...grow up strong, go with the Uzumaki kid...he seems decent enough." he couldn't help but smirk when Haku blushed a tiny bit.

Haku sniffled and nodded. When Zabuza called over Naruto, "Kid...you did good I can see that Haku is in good hands now...you make her cry though, and I'll come back from the dead all for the express purpose of kicking your ass!" Zabuza coughed up more blood, and he knew his end was near. "Kid I want you to have Kubikiri Haoucho."

Naruto was clearly shocked hearing that. "But...I...it's your mark. Your legacy."

"And I'm giving it to you." Zabuza responded, closing his eyes. "Think of it as...a parting gift for one warrior asking another one...to keep a promise." Zabuza felt himself grow cold, and knew his time was now up.

"I'll do that, but when I'm strong enough to wield it to its full potential I'll come back for it. I promise." Naruto promised the dying Demon of the Mist.

"Fair enough..." and with that Zabuza Momochi, the former fourth seat of The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, A-rank Missing-nin of The Village Hidden in the Mist, and nicknamed The Demon of the Mist passed from this world into the next.

As it began to snow, Haku sobbed into her master's lifeless chest, crying his name over and over. Naruto knelt down from behind, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Haku turned around and sobbed into his shoulder, and Naruto gently rubbed his hand up and down her back.

Two weeks later, after giving Zabuza a formal burial, Team Seven plus Haku departed Wave Country, with the bridge completed. As the four shinobi left, Tazuna realized what he'd call the bridge. "In honor of the boy who gave us back our hearts, and our courage, we'll call this The Great Naruto Bridge."


End file.
